Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo
by M-manNeverChoosesToLose
Summary: The long awaited, never asked for sequel, to the original work "Moon-Man Chronicles" will keep you at the edge of your chair with new kids on the block and fresh mystery seeping from the depths of Inkopolis. This is a non-standalone title featuring the original storyline from /s/11389811/1/Moon-Man-Chronicles ,so read that.
1. Prologue

**_Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo_**

 ** _Prologue: The Fire Rises_**

Two figures flew from shadow to shadow, finding haven in the darkness of the city.

They moved swiftly, unnoticed, in the moonless night. They passed by empty streets and into the heart of the city itself, eventually finding the building they were looking for.

The two went around, finding the back entrance to the large construct. The first silhouette crouched down at the lock and began to work quietly. The accompanying statue of the night stood a few feet away, its splatter-blaster looking for any movement in the dim alley. Small fumbling and clicks could be ascertained from lock until, at last, the crude metal gave way, leading into an even greater void of light.

They slowed considerably, almost crawling inside the building. Night vision goggles released their telltale glow, but froze at every noise the building's inhabitants made.

It had been seven hours since the Inklings had been recalled for the day's events, and though many would be sleeping, these persons took no chances of being discovered. Every slow step was followed by a few heart beats of listening for any reaction. Finding none, they moved on throughout the building, eventually reaching the stairwell.

From there they lowered themselves, and went in a simple clearing formation, where one person would advance, as the other provided cover. However, it seemed as if the building was completely empty as they checked every hallway leading up towards the top.

They stopped on the seventh floor, and moved into the corridor finding their way to a room's entrance.

The first figure knelt down to replicate the initial lock pick, but as its hand touched the door, the pathway simply opened. Both figures noticed, and they brought their weapons to bear as they quietly pushed the gate open.

They entered the room, lit only by the devices attached to their faces. When they had cleared the entire space from any potential hostiles, they searched the contents of what use to be a compatriots home.

The second figure silently closed the entrance to the apartment as the first one talked in a hushed voice.

"Someone got here first…" the first figure said, while looking under the small mattress that lay in the corner of the room. Its position facing the window that viewed the so called 'Plaza' beneath.

The second figure watched as its twin thoroughly swept the entire room, checking every corner from ground to ceiling, looking for any possible hiding spots the resident might have left.

Finding nothing, the first figure moved into the restroom, then closet.

"So you think he bit it, or that he's on the lam?" the second asked, while it watched the first continue its search throughout the closet.

The first figure stopped as it checked the roof of the closet, sighing and responding, before continuing its search.

"I don't know. The water gun isn't here, which means if he's on the run, he's not defenseless."

"Or?"

"Or it means that whoever raided this place could have a lethal weapon. Who knows? We haven't heard from him in a month, anything could have happened. A-ha." The first figure said, apparently discovering something.

"What did you find?" the second asked, its curiosity peaked.

"I found his phone," the voice said, before letting out a 'tsk' noise, "of course it's locked."

The first figure simply pocketed the device, and headed out the door, its search complete.

"With any luck, Marauder actually finished his mission before he started to cull his kin."

The second closed the door, following its twin's fleeting shadow out of the building.

"Hopefully. Then we can burn this city down without him."


	2. Part One

**_Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo._**

 ** _Part One: Same Places; New Faces_**

The day's oppressive heat bore down on the squid-girl.

The sun was at its zenith, yet the entire city was bustling. Moon-Man had taken shelter underneath a canopy that was propped up against the entrance to some food joint. She took the opportunity to crowd watch.

In the past month more inklings had come into the city than the past year. Renovations and construction had been popping up everywhere in Inkopolis to make room for these new denizens. New self-enforced rules were made in these last weeks to help acquaint the large intake of squids into the city. The biggest one being, if a new kid talks to you, you have to help them by either explaining how things work here in the city, or take them to someone who will. Moon-Man had done the responsible thing, and had given any new kid she had met to Bojable.

Moon-Man shifted as the ocean breeze came upwind, feeling the salty sea air against her skin, she began walking towards the train stop.

Passing through the outskirts of the plaza, she glimpsed at the tower, where Bojable was helping a small mob of new kids that had been brought in earlier in the morning. She could see him across the plaza clearly, even though the area was densely packed, waving his roller like a banner, ushering his juniors to and fro, showing the local shops, the area where you could stare at the 'Sisters' blankly, and the tower itself.

She watched as the saint incarnate would lean down to a smaller kid and answer any question that presented itself. Bojable's new role as a guiding force in the city had brought him unwanted fame. His absolute kindness and his eagerness to help anyone in need had made him a celebrity to all the new kids popping up. However, many of his peers that weren't close with him thought him two faced, imagining he was gaining something from his charity. These opinions never changed the way he acted however, and those closest to Bojable would always know just how genuine he was.

She continued on her trek thinking of Catherine and Tome, whom of which were trying to find two new people to team up with for the upcoming tournament. Tome was leading this endeavor with a zealous conviction. In juxtaposition, Catherine was juggling between her duties between ladder climbing with Tome, trying to help Moon-Man in her investigation, and random daily life.

Moon-Man had to admit her assistance during the first week of recovery was pivotal after the battle by the harbor, but now that she had was mobile again she tried to give Catherine space so that she could focus on her own personal things.

She passed by several kids who gave her anxious looks. She couldn't blame them for their apprehension. Besides her Trench coat apparel, and the fact that she looked like a boy, she had new battle scars from a month ago that would probably never heal fully. Although she never was directly hit by the lethal jet stream of water, she had been hit indirectly by the mist that came off of the gun multiple times. Small scars checkered her jaw line and cheeks, and long thin blemishes ran from her shoulders down to her fingers, hinting at the mutilation she had suffered. She had been asked several times by multiple acquaintances how she had obtained these tokens of injury, which she would never answer.

She had no reason to tell anyone that she had done battle with the killer of the two victims last month. The only people she actually cared about already knew. She had been grateful to Catherine, Bojable, and even Tome for their silence when it came to events that transpired.

After the final fight with Marauder, she had met up with the three, and had told them about what she saw. Of the giant squid and how it took Marauder into the night. She had tried to tell them in full detail, but felt she came off as a bit too on edge at the time to properly communicate. They all said they had believed her, but it was clear they had thought her account skewed. Catherine said they'd talk about it more when Moon-Man had made a bit more progress in her recovery. So while Moon-Man was prescribed with 'lots of rest' and 'no more eating that gray goop,' she had taken to robbing Marauder's apartment.

She had conscripted Catherine in her crime, forcing her to open the door and helping her move things from his apartment to Moon-Man's. When they had first entered, she had been quite surprised by how similar the two had lived. Before she had violently searched his residence, all she had found was a near empty living space. He had his small bed, a smaller dresser for his clothes, a closet for his heavier equipment, and Ink-sprayers of various calibers.

When Moon-Man had opened his fridge, she couldn't believe that he bought the same gray mystery meat containers she purchased. She had stood there in stunned silence for long minutes in thought before Catherine had tried to comfort her to little success.

Moon-Man had stolen anything that might prove useful in the case she was building. She had to find out how Marauder had obtained his lethal weapon.

Moon-Man then searched around his drawers and looking underneath all his furniture, then going through all the corners of the room looking for fake walls or cut outs in the floor boards.

They had taken his guns, his equipment, a small paper pad with doodles that might be code for something, and his one sentimental picture they found of what was presumed to be his old team. They packed it up into the backpacks they had brought, then left.

Later during the month, when she grew tired of staring at her wall, she occasionally went back to the plundered apartment, trying to get any idea of what Marauder was thinking, or if this was how he had always lived. She came upon a realization as well, that she was the only person to enter this room after he had left.

A month later, and no one had come to check on him.

Not even the staff who she'd occasionally spot in the lobby. His cash account would keep making deposits on the space, and she assumed it would go unnoticed until his account went through all of his funds. That could quite possibly take years for someone other than her to notice that he was gone.

But she was the reason of his abduction by the large squid monster.

Where were his friends?

Did he live in pure isolation, watching the Plaza day and night?

What sort of mental torment did he go through on his own? At least she had Bojable and Catherine as company.

Moon-Man would use this train of thought to make a large web on her wall, with Marauder at the center, she would go through every person she could connect him to. His old team, his fellow apartment dwellers, anyone she could find.

She spent her month doing this. Catherine had occasionally helped out, but pushing a small agenda of her own of making Moon-Man buy 'real' food.

Moon-Man was actually heading to meet up with Catherine and Tome, to tell them she had ran down her last lead. She suspected her and Catherine would most likely head out to go shopping or dither about to distract Moon-Man from her failed investigation.

She felt a scowl upon her face as the train pulled into the station, and as she watched kids walk and run out of the opening doors, she moved in between them, making a small berth before coming to a small living impediment.

Staring through her shadowed lenses, she did a double take at the girl standing in between herself and the cabin of the transport.

Directly in front of her, stood a duplication of the girl Marauder had slew so viciously.

She gazed at her, the image flashing to her mind of the young girl dissolving before her eyes.

Moon-Man remembered her dying scream fading into silence, reliving the scene of the poor girl's doom, of how she watched the corpse twitch, before falling still.

She was reminded that she never even learned her name, nor paid any respect to the small memorial that was put up in remembrance. She banished the thought and tried to move past this stranger, but kept running into her.

The girl kept blocking her path, trying to move out of the way, but just matching Moon-Man instead of going around. Moon-Man noticed she was holding an opened letter and a map in one hand, while holding a small bag in the other.

Oh no, Moon-Man thought. This girl was a fresh arrival from outside the city. She tried to move before the girl said something, but it was too late.

"Um, can you help me?" The stranger asked Moon-Man.

She deliberated on the merits of running away at this moment.

She could jump onto the train and never see this person again, she thought with dead eyes watching the train's doors close. She stood in silence for the moments it took to watch the train pull away from the station onto the next. When she watched the train depart, she looked down at the younger girl, and stared into her eyes.

She was going to be late because of her.

"I-I-I can find," the girl began, but began wavering steadily before the great lensed glare of the Moon-Man. She tried to finish her sentence but was interrupted by a hand coming up from Moon-Man.

She hesitated, taking off her sunglasses while she was in the shade and furiously rubbing the draining exhaustion from her eyes.

"Just…"

This was a crucial point in this person's time in this city, and Moon-Man knew it. She would take this inkling to Bojable's brigade, and then wait for the next train.

Moon-Man remembered when she herself came to this city, and that was over three years ago.

She felt a smile crawl onto her lips as she finished rubbing her eyes, and adjusted her sunglasses back on her face.

She remembered how she had felt like a fish out of water.

Moon-Man broke into a laugh.

 ** _-Part 1.5-_**

Ross had arrived in the great city of Inkopolis.

She had been overjoyed when they had found out that not only her sister, but Ross herself would be able to go to this coastal paradise. She had been told by the state introducer that the city was being over hauled to allow as many squid kids as possible to actually come live here, and take their first steps into adulthood and joining society.

But now that she was here in this city, she felt a little off balance.

She had been told that this was a city where you would have fun playing games, all the while learning the basics of squid combat, in an unbelievably safe environment where you would live, breathe, and play with kids your own age, or share in the glory of the televised Turf Battles.

She remembered watching the first ever broad-casted Turf Battles, the semi-finals and finals of a turf battle tournament, which would decide the top rankers apparently. She had no idea what any of this meant, but had lost herself to the hype. It had ended with an underdog team coming down to the final match where they had scarcely lost by a meagre measurement of a tenth of a percent. Ross and her sister had lost their collective minds, and decided to both strive to join the turf battles and get to the top.

Despondently, they later found that only one child per family could be sent to this city. She was crushed when she had been told it was her little sister, and not Ross, that would be leaving for the place of her dreams.

Ross's sister Monica had left a couple of weeks ago to join this small isolated community, and Ross spent her days in a jealous agony. However, not even a month went by when the same recruiter that told her family they could only send one of their children to this city, returned with news that Ross could join as well.

She had been told to go to her room by her parents, and after a few hours her father had returned, telling her to pack some personals and some spare clothes, and that she'd be leaving for the city by morning.

After a restless night of excitement, she had taken her small bag of stuff and had been escorted to a large train station. From there she and her family had talked with the same recruiter again, and watched with tearful eyes as their last daughter went to join her sister in the kid squid city. Ross had felt tears well up inside her as well, but was determined not to cry in front of strangers and was embraced by her mother for the last time.

As the train left the station, she and the recruiter shared a small booth in the near empty locomotive. She and the man had talked in great detail about the goings on of the city, and answered any question she might have had. Satisfied after hours of questions, she had asked when they would arrive, to which he replied a few days. So she tried to sleep as much as she could, and waited for the time when she would be able to rejoin with her sister.

When they had arrived at the walled city, she had been escorted inside, scanned, went through several examinations, and eventually given a map and letter explaining which building she would be staying in until she had gained enough of the city's currency to move. After this she had been handed an ink blaster called a "Splattershot-Junior."

She couldn't help but think that was a little offsetting, and the fact that this object had a 'business end' unsettled her.

After a few minutes of practice, they ran her through a small drill where she'd go and pop balloons in the day's broiling radiance.

It had taken getting use to from the children's toy variant that she had grown up with but after a few minutes she was able to complete the exercise. After that she had been put on one of the inter-city transports, and was off to go to the plaza then find her place of residence.

The train had made several stops, allowing a few dozen fellow inklings to get on. None seemed to take notice of her, too absorbed in their own lives.

She finally realized she was on her own, and felt fear strike her heart. She had just taken the first steps into adolescence! Boo-yah!

As the train pulled into a station, most of the kids rushed out.

Looking at her map, she cautiously got off the train as well, trying to remember how many stops she had taken and if she had gotten off too soon. That's when she bumped into quite possibly the most daunting boy in the world.

The inkling only stood a few inches over her, but the intimidation radiating off of him was off the charts. His almost translucent flesh occasionally peppered with scars on his face and hands. The boy was wearing dark sunglasses, and underneath his long coat she saw a glimpse of a gun almost three times the size of hers, that resembled a miniature cannon.

His lensed eyes met with hers, and as he strode to move past her, she subconsciously tried to move out of the way, but only ended up continuing to block his path. Ross could feel the boy's annoyance swelter and felt her morale began to plummet as she made a fool of herself. He eventually just stopped moving entirely and sized her up. She wondered if she had just picked a fight with someone she shouldn't have. After an eternal second, she noticed that the male inkling was eying her map and letter. Realizing she could play the unfamiliar novice card, she opened her mouth to ask for assistance.

"Um, can you help me?" She had asked the stranger, immediately regretting it, remembering briefly some quip about talking to these sort of people.

His entire demeanor changed to an exasperated state.

It looked to Ross that he was contemplating ignoring her completely, which she had secretly hoped he would, and just go past her. However, when she heard the train behind her squeal shut, she had tried to open her mouth and say something about finding someone else to help and she would just be going now, instead, stuttering massively, and coming off a bit touched in the head.

The boy simply raised his hand to silence her, which she felt obliged to do, and watched as he pulled off his dark sunglasses and rub his eyes for several seconds. She deliberated the merits of just running off while he wasn't looking, but realized that would be dumb and embarrassing.

When he finally spoke, his tone was that of exhaustion, and an unexpectedly soft tenor.

"Just…" He began, before cutting himself off.

She watched as the boy contemplated what to do, before he had returned his glasses to his face. However, as the seconds drove by and this awkward exchange continued, she saw as his face twisted to mirth, and he began to cackle dryly.

Her morale sunk more and more as he continued, and when he finally halted his chortles, the boy turned back the way he had come, and tilted his head to signal for her to follow him.

She felt she had made a mistake as she followed the stranger into the sprawling metropolis.

.

Editor's Notes: This 'un's gonna be fun guize.


	3. Part Two

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2 Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Two: The Turf Wars.**_

As Ross followed the strange youth out of the train station, they began their journey into the sunlit thoroughfares of the city.

She walked a few steps behind the older boy, looking at the eccentric buildings on the street level, while her chaperon navigated the well packed side streets with the expertise like a tailor weaving the needle. Ross saw many entrances to businesses selling random merchandise, from what she assumed were the newest generation of cellular devices, to furniture dealers. She walked onwards and realized the boy stopped moving at the start of an alleyway. She hastened her pace back, dodging fellow inklings who were window shopping. When she caught up with the trench coat wielding boy, she was surprised by him suddenly grabbing her wrist. She felt his calloused, iron grip as he physically dragged her through the empty alleyway. She was about to fight back before he heaved her into a sea of Inklings.

Ross felt herself being pushed and shoved left and right by the crowd's traffic. He pulled her through the crowd by sheer force, bringing her face to face after a short period.

He shouted over the din of the crowd, pointing with his free hand at the four stores that lead to a tower with two iron squids making a large 'X' over the entrance of the glass doors.

"SHOES, SHIRTS, HATS, GUNS." He barked, getting some strange looks from passing Inklings, however these observers made no attempt at releasing her from this violent tour guide.

Before Ross could catch her breath, she was being dragged full force once again, this time to the tower itself. When they got to the ramp leading up, the boy had relinquished his grip and had moved into the dark room itself. Ross rubbed the feeling back into the red marks that had been left on her skin, and watched from the entrance as he strode through a pack of inklings dressed similar to her. Leading this pack was a kid with a giant roller whom had stopped to watch her guide make his way hurriedly through the small group.

After a brief chat between the two, the roller-boy beckoned Ross over with a wave and the first authentic smile she had seen all day. Ross felt inclined to meet him, awkwardly moving through the mob.

"Hey there, I'm Bojable. What's your name?" The self-proclaimed 'Bojable' asked.

"Um, Ross." She said, looking at how the group of fellow inklings had surrounded her. Her escort standing a little behind Bojable, almost a head shorter than the roller.

"Hi Ross, I'm gonna' explain some things to you and the other new kids right now," Bojable said before directing himself to everyone around her. "Now that you all know where the stores are, the way we earn money is by participating in the so called 'Turf Wars.' I won't spoil all the fun, but I will tell you when you queue up for the games, your goal is usually to cover the most ground in your team color's ink. You've got about four or five hours before our homes open up. So once you sign up your name on the little computer there, talk to the cat and he'll lead you guys to your battle arena."

After his brief gesturing, the pack followed him to the many little sign-in stations that were set up in the lobby of the tower. As Bojable continued explaining, many other kids dressed much differently than the group passed by. Over on the small sign in screens it showed the two battle areas currently available, and the group watched as the older kids picked their battles, and moved to two sets of small doors, where a large fat cat-thing lounged on a marble podium. He ushered eight inklings at a time, stopping others from going in with two flags. The doors would close, then open again after their rims would change colors.

"They have lockers in the waiting area before the battle starts, so feel free to dump your stuff there, like extra guns, different clothes, random things you've brought. The matches should only be three minutes long and after that you can take a small break before playing again. Just make sure to sign out by exiting the station once you're done." Bojable explained, after which he took several breaths of air.

Ross watched as some of the braver kids moved immediately to some of the screens. Bojable began speaking once more, explaining that for first timers, they'd have to make an account and give themselves a title. This title could be changed any time they wanted, so don't waste time by trying to think of a cool name.

When it came to Ross's turn, she thought briefly before just putting her own name down. After which, she picked the map that looked like some oddly shaped bowl, and began to move towards Bojable and her guide.

The two were having a hushed conversation while Bojable wasn't pressed with any other kid's needs. She took the chance to eavesdrop, hearing Bojable's response to a question she didn't hear.

"Joe Bob's Shab shack? Yeah, I'll go, give me like, ten minutes to get these guys on their way." Bojable said nodding to the affirmed sunglass wearer. Her original guide went to leave after glancing at Bojable and Ross hiding behind him. The boy then turned and left the tower, without turning back.

Bojable also turned, running into Ross, to which he shouted in surprise.

"Whoa jeez, hey Ross. What's up?"

"I was wondering…" Ross thought on whether to ask about the stranger, since Bojable obviously knew him, but thought better of it.

She instead asked about how to find her first home and whether he'd join up with anyone, already knowing the answer to the second question.

"Oh, well, it says your address is on the Sea Watch Boulevard, which is like, four stops away if you take the train you took to get here. From there it should just be finding the address itself, but I know that street only has one row of buildings, so just look for the number on the side of the buildings." Bojable said, using his finger as a pointer along her map. "And no, I'm a bit too high in the tiers to join you guys. Most kids in my tier are a bit… eh, ruthless." He finished with a sad smile.

Bojable stayed true to his word, and watched Ross and the last of the new kids take their first steps into their first ever Turf War. She shouldered her bag, and gripped her Splattershot Jr. tightly, a mixture of anticipation, fear, and uncertainty glowing in her eyes.

 _ **Moon-Man Part 2.5**_

Moon-Man had waited for Bojable to finish his job of sending the new kids to their first taste of battle.

After which, the pair made their way back to the train station from which Moon-Man had picked up the new kid. They chatted lightly on their wait and during the 'eventual' train ride to the restaurant quarter, where there were roughly seventy different dining locations where all of the city's inhabitants could get some food, and socialize. There were some chains where they'd only allow in specific races usually due to the food being sold, and in the Inklings' case, if they gave out water to drink.

For some reason, only Inklings were hurt by the stuff, and other creatures could drink as much as they wanted. She had heard stories about how some creatures even do an activity called 'swimming' where they would intentionally dive into large pools or even the sea itself, and stay afloat for hours.

Suicide.

Joe Bob's Shab Shack, however, had become the gang's favorite place recently. More for the privacy than anything else. The establishment was run by an old Crustacean named Joe-Bob, who was the spitting image of a pirate, down to the hat and eye patch. The place had an inside bar, with a huge booths meant for his large customers. Its storefront had a small fenced off area where one could sit outside, enjoy the breeze, and stare at the ocean.

Needless to say, with its proximity to the sea, it was almost always empty of Moon-Man's fellow inklings, making it the perfect place to talk somewhat openly about their city.

Joe-Bob had asked what the kids were doing in his Shack once, and after telling him of how other places suck, they had obtained his sagely nod.

The old Crusty Joe-Bob, and his Shab Shack were at once open to their patronage, even after he was forced to put up a sign saying that he wasn't allowed to serve Inklings. That was only brought up because he sold a drink with alcoholic content to the dock workers who would show up later during the evening once they got off their shift. Until then, Joe-Bob would let them stay and cook some of his fried foods, as they were nearly his only lunch crowd, excluding dock workers who were on their break.

So after the train ride, and their brief walk to the Shack, Bojable and Moon-Man met up with Catherine and Tome who were already seated, plotting their next move on how to recruit two new team members for their upcoming ladder fight.

Tome was making grumbling noises, crossing names off a list, from what Moon-Man could see.

Bojable scooted into the booth, sitting across from Tome as the angry lad kept doodling without even registering the new arrivals existences. Moon-Man sat across from Catherine, who was reading the names off a list which she had assumed was a copy of what Tome was scribbling on.

"XxNewStarxX?" Catherine asked.

"Spoken for." Tome replied, crossing another name off his list.

"AnnexWhales?" She responded.

"He's a dongler." Tome stated.

"Not-The-Eyes?" Catherine quipped.

"Has no want to participate." Tome sighed mockingly, continuing his process.

"Ha. BeanisLord?" Catherine said, smiling at the innuendo.

"I can ask," Tome said, circling the name before clicking his pen's top multiple times. "Sup?" He asked Bojable and Moon-Man.

"Nothing much man," Bojable stated, waving Joe-Bob over, who was busy tending a small band of Crustaceans.

"I've burned through the last lead I had," Moon-Man flatly proclaimed, waiting for Joe-Bob to crawl his way over.

Waiting in silence at the news, she felt Catherine's stare bore into her, but chose to ignore it, and watch the old shrimp swagger his way towards their booth.

"Wateryahavin?" the old being slurred, Moon-Man sensing the pun in his speech.

Bojable ordered something edible, without drink. Moon-Man however, was feeling dangerous, and ordered a 'Creature-Slush' which was supposed to contain random lesser aquatic animals blended together.

"WithiceIpresume?" The shrimp joked.

"Funny for a half dead cyclops." Moon-Man retorted

"Icestillseawhatyadidthere." The Crusty Pirate jested before sauntering off to his kitchen to prepare the food.

Moon-Man barked a dry laugh, and was stared at by her group.

"What?"

Tome stared blankly at her saying, "I don't know how you understand him so well."

She looked to Catherine and Bojable, who told how they shared his opinion through their awkward glances. Moon-Man was actually somewhat shocked that they couldn't understand his slurred words. It wasn't that hard to decipher.

"So anyways," Catherine asked, reaching for Moon-Man's hand, only finding table. "You ran down your last lead?"

Moon-Man wondered why Catherine was always up on her all of a sudden. She wished she had a word to show exasperation in a simple and blunt matter, like a four letter word that could be used in any sentence. The need for Catherine to get off her grill was making her exhausted.

"Yeah, no one's talking in his apartment, his old friends don't know jack, all they know is that he kept to himself and didn't act strange. How could he have left zero foot print?"

"What has your crazy person wall told you?" Tome asked, as if he knew about her crazy person wall.

Moon-Man stared down Catherine, who must have spilled, Bojable looking at the exchange.

He softly asked, "You have a crazy person in your wall?"

"No, no, no. She's the crazy person." Tome clarified for Bojable.

"Oh."

"I'm not crazy, nor do I have a crazy person wall." Moon-Man tried to correct.

"Catherine told me she was worried, and I quote, 'about Moon-Man's crazy person wall.'"

Catherine slapped him in the face with one of her tentacles, more exclaiming than shouting, "This is why no one trusts you with things you freaking snitch!" She continued her assault striking with all limbs available.

Joe-Bob made his return, planting a sizzling plate of fried food in front of Bojable, and a large plastic cup of orange and gray matter before Moon-Man.

He laughed like a mad dog at the exchange between Catherine and Tome, while accepting payment from the two who had ordered things. Making the payment, the salty crustacean absconded to the safety of his counter, where he started reading some book.

As Bojable went at it full force, Moon-Man casually sipped the chunky drink, realizing it was surprisingly good. Tome was fighting off Catherine to little success, but was managing to change the subject.

"Anyhow-OW. Will you get off of me? Why is there no word I can just casually say to show my disdain at things?! STOP. GET. OFF. OF. ME." He began shouting, until Catherine had managed to gain some control of herself, and release her grasp on the boy squid.

"As I was saying," Tome said, staring down Catherine while rubbing his face, readjusting his freshness, and clearing his throat. "We're still looking for two more people for the team battles." He said, forcefully hinting something to Moon-Man.

"Not interested." Moon-Man said with irritation in her throat.

"Are you just done with Turf Wars all together?" Tome asked, bringing up something usually left untouched in their group dynamic. Even Bojable looked disgruntled with a mouthful of food.

"Why don't you shut up while you're ahead, before I pick up on where Catherine left off?"

"What is with you people and violence?" Tome asked, exasperated.

"We've got a paci-fish, so we have to pick up the slack." Catherine said, pinching at Tome's cheek.

"Woman, stop." Tome said, swatting her hands off him. "But seriously, you've lost more than that one time, it's been like, more than a year now. Get back on that seahorse already."

"I'm not playing for your stupid team, I've got better things to do." Moon-Man spat disdainfully.

"One, its Catherine's stupid team too. Two, you just said you've run down your last lead. You've figuratively and literally don't have better things to do. What are you going to do now? Search the sewers from top to bottom?" Tome asked bitterly.

Silence filled the table, Moon-Man not meeting anyone's gaze as she drank her slush in long gulps.

"Wait, you're not seriously going to do that, right?" Catherine pleaded.

Moon-Man just realized that she had drawn each person's stare, so she kept drinking.

"Moon-Man, that place is a maze, and dangerous." Bojable chimed his own worries in with the other two.

She stood up from the table, cup still on lips as she continued chugging, but eventually had made her container empty. She eventually slammed the plastic cup down with a very anti-climactic sound, and inhaled sharply.

"If that is all, I'll be leaving." Moon-Man stated, heading for the door.

Catherine followed behind her. She heard Tome remark something about women, and Bojable grunt as they left.

As the two made their way back the way Moon-Man had originally came from, she watched as the sea came in and out with the tide, making quite the spectacle in the blue sky. She also felt Catherine grasp her entire right arm, and had to fix her gun sling to compensate.

"Why are you always hanging onto me all the time? You're going to give people the wrong impression." Moon-Man said coldly.

"Let them think how they want. You look boyish enough to give people the right idea," Catherine said, messing with Moon-Man's tentacle band that was binding the two together.

She glanced down at the smiling girl beside her, wondering what that was supposed to mean. She eventually settled for, "You better not be telling people things."

"Telling who? Your tentacular neighbors?" Catherine asked, which made Moon-Man wonder if she had actually been keeping in touch with her 'fantastical' neighbors.

Those two jellyfish were infinitely better than those other inklings that had moved in.

"Yes, those people exactly." Moon-Man stated.

"Well, I haven't been. But those new kids down stairs are wild, aren't they?"

"Yeah. That one kid has impeccable vision. He's been onto me since the first moment."

"Which kid? The tall, short, or girl?" Catherine asked, naming off the three new neighbors Moon-Man had recently procured.

Although Moon-Man had kept her distance to the point where she didn't even bother learning their names, she was occasionally forced into making small talk with them when they blocked the stairs.

"I don't know. The tall one, I guess." Moon-Man said, "He was rocking that ugly striped shirt."

"Yeah, that was the tall one. Real ladies' man that one was." Catherine snorted.

"I'm gonna start hitting on him if you don't get. Off. Me." She threatened, starting to throw her arm back and forth for freedom. Eventually obtaining sweet liberation from the horrid grasp of her friend.

"No you won't, you're boy shy." Catherine said, initiating an attempt at the mostly dodged, 'girl talk.'

"I am not. I hang out with Bojable and Tome all the time. That's not boy shy." She said, bringing up the fact that their crew was half and half. Basic math proved that she wasn't boy shy.

"Okay, well Bojable is harmless, and you don't hang out with Tome. Tome hangs out with me, and you have to deal with him. You hate his guts, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I had forgotten that he was a total coward and has garnered zero respect from anyone. Ha." Moon-Man said, grinning evilly.

"Right? Totally spineless. I can't wait to see what happens when I break him. I'm hoping he'll evolve into a pyscho-berserker."

They laughed and laughed, joking at the expense of Tome. Good times were had by the two as they navigated their way to the open markets.

.

.

Editor's notes: Snake doesn't like my big words.

Sidenote: Poor Tome… Hah.


	4. Part Three

_**Moon-Man Chronicle 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Three: Home is where you aren't.**_

Ross leaned heavily on the hand rails of an empty train.

She was physically and mentally exhausted after the day of war she had experienced.

The first few matches were fun. With both teams unsure of what to do, they just painted the ground while popping off shots at each other when the chance arose.

However, when people dropped out of the teams after getting tired, the more experienced kids would come in and just stomp them to the ground. It felt bad losing so much, but she also felt the hope of her future in the Turf Wars.

As the metal cabin slowed to a halt, she exited. She felt the salty sea air blow against her in the twilight of the evening. She looked at the dark void that was the ocean on the brisk walk to locate her residence.

Ross wondered why the city was even built on the coast, knowing that such proximity to the ocean could only cause fear to the kid populace. She wondered why she had even been assigned to a building not even a hop skip and jump away from instant death.

As the fear of such a fate rattled the confines of her mind, Ross found herself at the base of her abode. After inspecting the first and second floors for any signs of life, and finding none, she went to the doorway indicated on her form. She halted in front of her door, hearing voices from inside.

It sounded like…Arguing?

"Joseph, I swear if you walk out that door, I'm, I'm, uh, going to eat all the cheese cake myself!" A voice shouted, which made Ross hesitate from knocking on the metal barrier.

"You wouldn't dare!" A voice exclaimed, fairly close to the door.

"We will, you don't get to walk out now." She heard a third voice say, albeit much quieter than the first two. What was going on inside? Ross had asked herself.

"Look, I've got things to do with pretty girls, not waste time on some other guy whose going to eat a fourth of a cheese cake we all bought." The disembodied voice said, closest to the door. Ross assumed this one was the 'Joseph' shouted at earlier.

"What pretty girls are you hanging out with? You just go around asking them, 'How you doing?' then they ignore you!" The first voice had bellowed.

"You're going to be gone for like fifteen minutes, realize it's late and everyone is home, and come back." Ross heard the quieter voice say, realizing it was a female.

"I don't have to take this," Ross heard Joseph say, and back up as the door swung open, giving her a view of a boy slightly taller than she; his tentacles tied into a bun on his head.

He gawked at her for a brief moment, before composing himself, and asked the question,

"How you doin'?"

She blinked multiple times at him, before looking over his shoulder at two others, a boy and girl standing side by side, holding a small cardboard box between the two.

They immediately put it down, and rushed to the door after a brief realization that Ross was holding a bag. She looked up at this Joseph, and saw his eyes appraise her for all she was worth. It wasn't the best feeling in the world, she realized.

The second boy shoved past him, as the girl ushered her inside, stammering questions and greetings, becoming a torrent of chatter. Joseph, stepping back inside himself.

Ross wondered what she had just gotten herself into, before realizing the door had closed behind her.

She was introduced to Chad, who sat her down, as the girl, Pia, threw her small bag into her supposed room. She gazed upon her apartment, which was quite extravagant, she realized. A large living area shared by a kitchen, connecting to four separate rooms. A buffer of two bathrooms split the sides of the apartment up, and a window gave a view of the sea.

Plain blinds unsuccessfully blocked out the dying light of the sun. No wonder there were so few rooms in this apartment building, she thought. This one may be taking up half the floor.

When Pia returned, all four of them sat and exchanged glances, before Ross realized she should introduce herself.

"Oh! I'm Ross, nice to meet you all." She said, continuously looking around the apartment. The other three picked up on her listlessly throwing her gaze around the room.

"It's pretty great right? My old one wasn't even half the size of this place. It's pretty cheap too, since we're right next to the sea."

"Yeah but it's kind of lonely here, don't you think?" Pia asked, helping Joseph unpack the small box sitting on the table. Chad went to the kitchen and to get forks.

"It's not that lonely, we've got like what, two other people who live here?" Joseph chimed in, carefully undoing the box lest the contents be damaged.

"Three, the jellyfish couple, and the guy who lives on the fifth floor." Chad said from the kitchen, and making the short journey back to the table. He handed Ross a fork. She watched Joseph scoff to himself, finally managing to open the cardboard contraption, Chad looking at him.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything." Joseph responded.

Chad handed Pia and Joseph their respective forks, as the two unveiled a perfectly small beige creation with a brown crust. Ross had never seen one before in her life, and gaped at the pastry.

Pia took the liberty of cutting the cake, and continued where she had left off, "Yeah but they keep to themselves mostly. That squid gives me the creeps. He just sort of stares through his glasses at you, sizing you up."

Ross suddenly felt a jolt of recognition. It couldn't possibly be the same boy right?

Ross watched as the other girl carefully handed out slices of the cake, Joseph and Chad eating theirs very carefully, while Pia took great bites out of her own piece. Ross took her first timid step into the world of delicacy. After swallowing, she realized that her entire journey was worth it just for this moment.

"What. Is. This?" Ross asked in amazement.

"Right?" The three chimed in, laughing almost in unison. They then each told the tale of their own first few weeks in the city, and how the three had banded together once they had found out about the same creation.

Cheesecake, bringing friends together.

They talked for a while. Ross had discovered random facts about each of them, like how none of them had been in Inkopolis for more than three weeks each.

Joseph talked about his dream of becoming a ladder climber and being a celebrity during tournaments. Chad had been caught up in his passion, and decided to join him. Pia had been trying to teach herself how to make music in the brief instance when she stopped talking about her past, and said that she was happy to have come to Inkopolis while they were taking in kids by the drove.

"So Ross, what brings you to the city?" Chad asked, roping her into the conversation.

"Well, my sister and I always dreamed of being on the televised Turf Wars. So I guess it's like Joseph's dream?" Ross said with little conviction.

"You left a sister behind? Same here, I have seven sisters back home." Joseph said, nodding to himself.

"No, she's here too. I just don't know where she is." Ross added, getting looks from each pair of eyes.

"What?" Chad asked.

"Really?" Joseph said while having the face of astonishment.

"That's really amazing, Ross! I thought they had a one kid per family limit! I hope we can help find your sister!" Pia said, channeling her positive energy into those at the table.

Ross couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, but I'm sure I'll find her eventually. She also has a month on me, so I need to catch up before I meet her again." Ross said, making a goal apparent before everyone.

They talked for seemingly hours after that, about random things and about the city, and how great life had been for them all so far. Ross was eventually shown around the rooms, and realized how bare the apartment was currently. Apparently everyone had moved in not even a week ago, and they were just given small beds on metal frames to sleep on.

As everyone began to turn in, Ross heard small footsteps vibrate outside in the hall way.

She stuck her head out of her apartment's entrance, shining light into the previously dark hallway. The beam of light blinding a person walking quietly up the stairs. She saw the figure carrying a large bag of foodstuffs shuffle as they brought their free hand to shield their eyes. When Ross's eyes adjusted, she saw a very familiar figure wearing an overly large coat stare her down. It was the mystery friend of Bojable, who had shown her to the tower. Ross was then forced out of the doorway by Pia, whom shoved herself into the open passage to see what Ross was glaring at, and staring at the boy not even thirty feet away.

Pia immediately grabbed Ross by the hand and dragged her inside. Ross waving weakly at the familiar inkling, only to watch her small gesture go unnoticed as the boy went upstairs. She wondered if fate or coincidence were responsible for this situation. She felt her heart beat lessen as she lost sight of the boy, and was brought back into her new home.

 _ **Moon-Man Part 3.5**_

Moon-Man had spent her afternoon and part of the evening dongling about with Catherine all over the city. They had gone all over the city in a blur of activity, Moon-Man being dragged through several locations of Inkopolis.

When she had left Catherine at the train station, she had kept her façade until the departing train had faded. She stared briefly into her bag of random food stuff, and momentarily thought about just leaving it there on the ground. Moon-Man realized she had been hesitating. She picked up the bag, and started her slow march towards her home.

Moon-Man continued her journey eventually stopping in front of her apartment building, before looking behind her.

She saw the dusk sky slowly melt together between blue of night and the last remnants of the crimson sun. She heard the dwindling cries of the remaining sea birds, and saw the evening tide start to ebb onto the sand below her.

She watched the red streaks on the ocean's waves and wondered what it would be like to throw oneself into the sea. Her ancestors had supposedly lived underwater in an age long forgotten. She wondered what had happened in those unrecorded centuries that would spur them out of their ancestral environment, and onto land.

Years ago, her father had explained many things to her. Moon-Man knew not what drove him to teach her these things, but had taken the information to heart, and though she couldn't remember his face, she did not forget the things he had said of their people – of the anomaly that was their existence.

He had told her such frightening things, even when she was more ooze than flesh. In their home, he had spoken of evolution and how their existence was not meant to be. He had gone much more into detail, but trying to understand his mad ramblings from a child's perspective was an impossible task.

She regretted not having a higher brain function at the time.

Moon-Man rubbed the tired from her eyes as she locked those repressed memories back. She turned towards her apartment building, and walked away from the temptation of being torn into oblivion by the sea.

Inside was the familiar quiet.

She walked with heavy steps towards the stairwell, and climbed while balancing her bag of groceries in her arm while trying not to slap her weapon against the hand rail. At the third floor she briefly regretted her amazing fashion style, as the extra weight of the coat was getting to her. When she heard a sudden noise of a door opening, she turned and was blinded suddenly, she quickly abandoned her grip on her weapon and raised it to block the light beam, to little avail. She saw the outline of the culprit standing in the apartment's door way. Then the figure simply closed the door behind them.

Moon-Man wondered why these new kids had to be rude to her. It's not like they were oblivious to each other's existences. She had even spoken to that Joey guy an incredible one time. That's pretty good for what she's concerned.

She released a sigh of relief as the light faded, and she continued her ascent, briefly stopping at the fourth floor and going to the only apartment with people in it. She saw the light shine underneath the crack of the door, and put her bag of random food stuff down by the Jellyfish's threshold. She had talked with the couple a few times, and had been leaving Catherine's care packages for them whenever they would go shopping. Moon-Man had done it the first time as to show thanks, intending to stop after that, but she continued to gift the two with copious amounts of food Moon-Man knew she would never eat.

In exchange, she had been given some form of energy drink that Inklings normally weren't able to purchase. After quickly realizing the terrible flavor onset by drinking the first, she had acquired the taste for them, along with a realization she might be masochistic on a mental level.

Moon-Man also learned personal things about the couple, such as their names: Li, and Jones. They had a son that who had been sent recently to join his parents. She had learned that Jones worked in the citie's telecommunication department, or just messed with kid's phones, while Li worked for the city in keeping the lights on, or something like that. Something to do with electricity. They had asked about what happened during the night she had returned wounded. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was the Inkling killer. Apparently news arrives differently in the non-inkling parts of the city, Moon-Man had concluded.

Moon-Man knocked at the door quietly, and left the hallway empty handed, reaching the stairwell as she heard the floor's occupied apartment open.

"Thank you kindly!" She heard Li say from the hallway, Moon-Man's reply only being a small wave and a nod.

She quickly climbed to her residence, and quietly picked up the boxed container of small tin cans. Moon-Man unlocked the door, and vanished from the hallway into her small room of an apartment.

Her apartment had two very different changes ever since she had ransacked Marauder's place. The first and most obvious one being: her entire dresser moved so she could place pictures connected with marker lines on her largest wall.

The second change: her entire room was trashed because she never cleaned up after she had went through all of Marauder's things thoroughly. His clothes, personal items, papers she had found in his apartment, empty energy drink cans, and his weapons all littered her floor. The things she tacked to the wall being the exception.

During this month, she had gone through every single item that she had taken multiple times, finding next to nothing. She had cut him and his team out of the singular picture, and hung them each on the wall, but the other three had given her nothing but useless information.

She had kept the idea that one of his old team mates put him up to the whole 'Murder' thing, but they had each given the same story that he had isolated himself, and when he left, the other three went their separate ways as well. Having no proof to connect them to Marauder after their team's breakup, she had been forced to now look for other means of finding the connection between the Inkling and the Water gun.

On her wall, above the picture of Marauder, was a small outline of a person with a question mark in its head. She needed to find this nameless, faceless creature, which she assumed was the mastermind behind Marauder's whole operation.

She sat in the silent darkness of her room, the only noise coming from her mouth as she nursed her foul tasting drink, and savored the small burning it left as an aftertaste. Moon-Man scowled after nearly an hour of staring at things she had already memorized.

The only clue she hadn't run down was the sewer escape when she had first done battle with Marauder. She felt her anger rise at the memory of the girl's face, so much so, she felt her grasp rend the metal canister she was holding, the contents spilling on her hand.

She felt herself smile at slight stinging on her flesh, getting up to get a towel to clean the mess up after the pain had subsided. Moon-Man wondered what was wrong with her brain as she cleaned up the small mess. She wondered why life felt so fraudulent after her first taste of life and death fighting.

She had lasted for a full year doing almost nothing but solving small problems for the kids around the city, but now after this huge case, and the conflict, everything just felt… empty?

She sighed, thinking she should write these feelings down somewhere, or keep a journal. She finished cleaning the mess, and went to her small cot where she laid down, and went off to doze a dreamless sleep.

.

.

Editors Notes: Long parts; get dizzy.


	5. Part Four

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Four: Get out of my life and into my dreams.**_

"CHARGER!" Joseph shouted, shifting forms into the malleable squid, and sinking into the painted ground.

Ross tried to peek out of one of the narrow pathways that lead towards the enemy spawn. When she saw the laser pointer aim beside her, she ducked her head back into cover and watched the ground where she was standing not but a half second prior, become covered in a long splatter pattern. She immediately undid the temporary paint job, and continued to wait nervously while she began wondering where things went wrong.

It had been a few days of casually covering ground with fellow new kids, but as soon as she joined up with her roommates for a group game, they had been paired against what Joseph called "Try Hards."

To say that her team was struggling would be a grand understatement.

Out of the four of them, only Joseph had any idea what he was doing, which was basically just surviving at this point. Pia, Chad, and Ross, however, were getting absolutely destroyed, and after hours of playing against the same team Chad was trying to repair morale instead of fighting against the enemy team.

"CHAD YOU BETTER USE THAT JUMP. C'MON MAN." Joseph shouted, running to and fro and constantly firing his Splattershot Junior. Pia was trying her hardest to keep up with all the enemies covering their ground, but as the timer neared zero, they all realized that they were outmatched.

As the four of them left the arena, Chad refused to make eye contact with the rest of the group. Ross stayed quiet as Joseph raged to the heavens for a few seconds, until he had registered that the game was over, and they had lost. His outlook suddenly changed to the surprise of everyone around him.

"Alright-y then. Anyone up for another round?" Joseph asked, nonchalant, as if their crushing defeat hadn't happened.

"I'm…Good." Pia said after a brief look at Chad, who shared Ross's defeated atmosphere. They hadn't even covered a quarter of the battle ground. It was a shameful display, and they all knew it.

"I think I'm just gonna'… I don't know. Muck around for a while." Chad said, and wandered off into the city. Pia following a small distance behind saying she should probably keep an eye on him, leaving Ross with Joseph. After a brief silence, Joseph asked if she was hungry.

Ross followed Joseph to the food district and into a sandwich shop. The jellyfish apparently knew Joseph on sight, and waved at him. After placing an order for both of them, they sat at a table in a relatively packed store front during the lunch rush.

"So, come here often?" Ross asked as she sat across the table at the boy who was eyeballing every girl that was in the store.

"Oh yeah. This place is great. Quite possibly the best subs in the entire city." He replied calmly. His relax attitude radiating all around him. "I know a pretty great hot chocolate café too. I'll show it to you some time."

"Cool." Ross said, not exactly sure how to respond in that situation. To fill the silence with small talk, she asked how he was able to wash away all anger and disappointment instantly after a match.

"Oh. It's an act. I'm never really mad, but you guys have a habit of bottling your emotions, so I'm emoting for all of us. It's really tiring, you know."

"What?" Ross asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, it can help out. Just shout things after the match. It's really therapeutic, you know?"

"I- I don't, actually."

"See? Try it next time. Your game will improve tenfold. Trust me."

"I guess I will. But you seem pretty good for beginner. What's up with that?" Ross inquired.

She wasn't trying to stroke his ego, but he obviously knew what he was doing in these survival games.

"Didn't I mention I had like, seven sisters? Well you see," He started, before their order was called. Ross made a move to get out of her chair and to the counter, but was waved down by Joseph. He weaved through the crowd of squids and kids, and returned in no time at all bearing two small sandwiches, oozing liquid from the paper wrapping surrounding the food.

"Anyhow, we make an eight man team, so we'd all go out and play every day. We all liked to emulate those shows, you know? Of the televised turf wars, right?" He asked, trying to find middle ground between himself and Ross.

Ross nodded quickly, unwrapping her sandwich, saying "I know exactly what you mean. Though me and my sister never had one of the toy guns, so we still played pretend when we were younger." As she was about to take the first bite of the sandwich, she was suddenly grasped by the forearm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Joseph asked, finding his restraining hand around her arm.

"Uh, about to eat?"

"Woman, if you eat it like that, all of the stuff inside is gonna' fall out. You gotta hold it at an angle and have the back half of the wrap keep it together at the end. Watch and learn, nub."

Ross watched in mock fascination at the eating display. She took Joseph's advice anyways, and when the end of the sandwich came apart, the both shared a hearty laugh. It also seemed that the entire establishment laughed in a strange orchestra of the jovial atmosphere.

They ate in silence and enjoyed the background noise and conversation of the store while making light banter to each other, and cracking jokes. Joseph occasionally stopped and asked passersby how they were doing, and would exchange phone numbers almost instantly. After they finished eating, they both got up and walked about towards the train station.

"So, I got a question about our neighbor." Ross said, feeling a bit awkward at the forceful change of subject.

"Which one exactly?" Joseph asked, stopping by a vending machine to grab one of the inkling safe drinks.

"Uh, the one on the fifth floor."

"Moon-Man?" Joseph asked.

"That's his name?" Ross asked in kind.

"That's her name, dude." Joseph said, popping the top of the can and taking a swig.

"What? His name is Moon-Man. Keyword 'man', man. No way that's a girl." She said, getting a shrug of uncaring from Joseph.

She tried to think of how Joseph had made a connection to this Moon-Man being a female, and couldn't see it.

"You don't gotta' believe me if you want, but I know a girl when I see one." He said with straight-eyed conviction, refusing to budge as they continued their conversation in the street.

"Well, I don't believe you, since he's obviously a boy…Right? Wait, what makes you say he's a she?"

"Well, I guess it was the buns at first." Joseph said with a hesitant thought.

Ross shared her mixed look of disgust and concern.

"I meant her tentacles. They're too long, and tied differently than how most boys are taught." He pulled on his own wrapped tentacles on the top of his scalp as if to demonstrate.

"Her tentacles? That's it?" Ross asked in disbelief.

"Well I mean, yeah. The first time I saw her it was for like two seconds before she went to her floor, so... Maybe it was the coat, now that I think about it. Hid too much for no real reason. Wrapped hands were kind of a give-away as well. People who hide their hands are usually hiding something else." Joseph said without any hint of noticing how paranoid he sounded.

"Dude, you're superstitious." Ross said after digesting what he had said.

He shrugged again, before throwing the remains of the drink into an open trash can. They began walking towards the train station, Ross following close behind.

"Anyhow, so I talked to her, then realized I should probably back off, and haven't gone near her again." He said, not looking back at Ross, which peaked her interest more.

"Why is that? I mean neither have I, but shouldn't we at least be a little social with our neighbors?"

"Sure, let's go hang out with the jellyfish. I'd gladly do so, but keep the Moon-Man to yourself. I don't want to be roped with that kind of crazy."

"Joseph, you sound crazy. You know that right?" Ross said, clearly unimpressed by his reaction.

He stopped suddenly and looked into her eyes. A serious face she hadn't seen him make in the few days she had known him. He looked like he was having trouble formulating a sentence.

"You told us that 'he' took you around the plaza, and dumped you off onto Bojable, then left you there. I personally don't see your attraction to a man-girl, but hey, if it floats your boat or whatever."

"What are you even talking about anymore?" Ross said in frustrated confusion. She was pretty sure Joseph was just talking out of his bum.

"Yeah, yeah. Well here's some advice. Don't make the first move. Guys and girls both hate try hards." He started, then proceeded to keep giving her dating advice.

She couldn't help but notice that Joseph was teaching her how to hit on girls.

 _ **Moon-Man 4.5**_

An onlooker probably would think Moon-Man was on brink of madness.

She was keeled over in front of a sewer's outlet intensely looking down to see if the drainage pipe was big enough for an Inkling, child, or squid. She had been systematically going through every single one in a five mile radius of Marauder's apartment.

Moon-Man's reasoning was that if Marauder was making secret trips into the sewer system, he might have left a sign or marking for himself, so she was marking down every outlet and manhole big enough to fit him, then she would investigate every single one for any signs of traffic.

After staring into the damp, dark cement pit, she sat on the curb above it, and crossed out another small circle, which she indicated as a possible entrance to the sewers. She sighed and breathed in sharply, and vigorously rubbed her tired eyes.

This task was taking an extreme amount of time, but she didn't want to make any crazy risks. It had already been six days, and the first three alone were just finding all the manholes and drainage gutters. Checking them all was even more time consuming, then she would have to go back to the ones that could just fit Marauder, and search the entrances for any signs. Moon-Man guessed it would take another month unless she found some way to narrow the search parameters.

She checked her phone at the time and noticed that the date was on a different number than the one she had in her head. Apparently it had been a full week, not six days like she had previously thought. She scratched her head, and started making her way back towards her apartment that she hadn't visited in nearly four days.

To save time, Moon-Man only slept for four hours a day, spread out throughout the day. She deduced she must have passed out at one point, and slept for a longer period than anticipated. Moon-Man wasn't proud of sleeping next to trash, but after the Marauder conflict, she had grown a fondness for the smelly black plastic. Trash doesn't talk back, and is just about everywhere, making it quite the companion for her adventures.

She would need to use her full body sanitizer when she got home, Moon-Man figured.

She wondered if her time could be better spent, and realized it probably couldn't. Bojable was still dealing with the influx of new kids, and Catherine was with Tome preparing for the tournament in two weeks. Catherine was so busy, that she bought Moon-Man a month's worth of food, delivered it three days ago, and had apparently left it with the Jellyfish, or so her text had said.

That message made Moon-Man laugh out loud in the streets at the irony of Catherine allowing her to skip the step of dumping the supplies off on the Jellies herself.

With the investigation put on hold, Moon-Man made the trek all the way back to her place.

She saw a pair of inklings sitting on the curb in front of the entrance to the building. The two were staring out the ocean, chatting idly, apparently waiting for the apartment's automated locks to open so that they could go in. Unnoticed, Moon-Man took the opportunity to stand behind the corner of the building to eavesdrop.

"It's just," the girl said, "You need to stop panicking randomly, it throws him off his game, I guess? You know he's not really mad."

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm not use to being shot at. Those people are vicious! How do you stay calm when people are trying to kill you?" the boy responded. Moon-Man understood that this one must have been the shy one she hadn't spoken to yet.

In fact, she hadn't spoken to either one of these two. This random encounter might end up with a spring of information about the people who lived on the third floor.

"They aren't trying to kill you. It's just like tag. Except instead of getting tagged, you got shot with a liquid that slows you and stings until you… go back to the entrance… Hm. Well I mean, look on the bright side!" The girl said, trying to encourage the boy.

Silence sat between the two for several long seconds.

"This is where you -say- the bright side, Peebs." The boy said, after tiring of waiting.

"Just gimme' a minute. Geez. Uh, I mean, it could be worse. Oh! Now I remember what I was going to say, you'll eventually get over it after time and become a cool guy!" She said, apparently trying to find any morale boosting saying.

The question of how bad this guy lost misted in the back of Moon-Man's mind. Such a terrible blow to the kid's ego must have shattered his self-worth. Well, at least he was getting rid of that sinful pride before he actually got good at the Turf battles. If you or your team doesn't stomp that out, and you eventually meet people who are better in skill than you, and you tend blame anyone but yourself for your problems. Good for this kid for dealing with that conundrum as soon as possible, Moon-Man thought.

"Yeah, right." The boy said sarcastically.

"It's true, once you get a groove going, I'm sure you'll be like Joseph. Maybe you should try a different weapon or something." This 'Peebs' character said.

"Like what you're doing? Jumping between them all?" The boy asked.

"Well I mean, sure. I'm going to try the ink brush next, but if you're bad against those Charger guys, maybe you should try one out. Someone said that a squelcher can shoot father than one."

Moon-Man frowned, and hearing the eight o'clock alarm go off, she decided to come out of hiding. "Whoever told you that is a liar," she said, bordering on a whisper, while passing them by.

They both turned around, the idea of them being alone crumbling.

"What?" The boy said.

Moon-Man halted while opening the door, finishing the advice.

"Just work as a team and create diversions to ambush Chargers. Or is that too hard?" Moon-Man said, then as if it was almost an afterthought, added, "Also, you'll look like an idiot with that ridiculous squelcher."

"Hey! That's not nice!" This Peebs said, but the comment was ignored as Moon-Man walked inside, and left the two in their company. She took to the stairs and started her ascent. She eyeballed the fourth floor, then went to her apartment.

After going through the threshold, she felt her phone vibrate in her coat, signaling a text message. She read it and thought it was a spam mailer, but when she saw key words like 'Catherine, Bojable, and Friends', she went through the incredibly long text message, then watched as her phone lit up again, signaling the second part.

Pick up whose son?

The realization dawned on Moon-Man, and recognized it was her neighbors asking a favor in their broken language. When she got the third and final message, she saw Li's name at the very bottom of the text message.

After decoding the message, Moon-Man understood that the couple's son was arriving a day earlier than expected, and neither one of them could get out of their adult responsibilities. She wondered how they had gotten her number in the first place, and speculated if it was Catherine's doing, or if the father looked her account up using his job's benefits. Moon-Man was going to bet on Catherine's influence and saved the number under 'Jellyfish-Li.'

She continued her nightly routine of stepping into the large air sanitizer where she was sprayed down with gusts of artificial wind, and then ate a gray nutrient pack. Moon-Man stared at a map while standing by her trash can, and after throwing the disposable container out, she had a thought.

How was she going to take care of a child for an entire day?

She was a bad influence to Inklings her own age, but to a child who's still learning the way of the world? What if the kid tried to copy her, bad habits and all?

She felt temporary fear of being an adult, and sat in thought for a while.

After coming to the conclusion that she needed to get the kid an actual babysitter, she dialed Bojable's phone number. What followed was a brief conversation, and a silence that was proof of rejection. She couldn't call Catherine because of her whole team building thing, and she wouldn't rely on Tome for anything besides being worse than garbage.

Heck, he was even less of a person than she was! That scum couldn't be trusted to hold an inanimate object, let alone a child.

Wait. Didn't someone tell her that new kid she gave to Bojable lived in her apartment building? What was her name? Rose? Rob? Ross. Ross!

She wondered why and how Catherine kept up to date with her apartment's residents before Moon-Man herself, but was glad of it nonetheless.

She exited her apartment building, after throwing on her coat, then went down two floors.

She was going to cash in what someone owed her.

.

.

Editor's notes: Oh Act 1, why are you so mellow? Mellow but not yellow. Jello, but more of an odd fellow. How extravagant.


	6. Part Five

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Five: What sights you'll see.**_

Ross had noticed that Chad had gone and bought himself a Charger with Pia while she was gone.

The mood had also returned back to a comical one, with everyone in the room laughing or doing something to make someone else laugh. Joseph and Ross had returned a little after Chad and Pia, and they said they had a run in with their broody mysterious neighbor. Joseph had wiggled his eyebrows at Ross and had joked to the group that she was going to ask 'him' out.

This got a laugh out of everyone save for Ross, when they then heard a knock at the door.

Ross moved to go see who it was since they didn't order anything. When she eyed the peephole, she couldn't believe who it was.

She felt her face heat up, and hoped the boy outside her door didn't hear anything a few seconds ago.

Joseph and Chad had noticed her entire body language change, and moved closer towards the door, but Ross waved them back. She moved to unlock the entrance, and when she stuck her head out of the crack between the door and the frame, she looked up towards their knocker.

"Ross, right?" Their fifth floor neighbor asked, confirming the fact that he knew her name.

For some reason, she expected he didn't know it in the first place, but she was fine with this new development.

"Uh, Hi. Yeah! Yeah, I'm Ross." She said, shifting in between the door and frame some more.

There was an awkward pause, as Moon-Man looked above her head, and asked "Can I talk to you out here for a sec?"

Ross turned around and noticed that her three roommates had all gathered close behind her, in view of Moon-Man. She hastily made them back off, and closed the door behind her as she went into the dark hallway with their upstairs neighbor. She was trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness, and defaulted to the brief training Joseph had given her.

"So uh, how you doin'?" Ross said, immediately regretting it.

She could feel more than see that Moon-Man was unimpressed, however, the boy said nothing about it but in turn said a couple of things.

Things such as "are you doing anything tomorrow?" and, "I could use your help." To all of which Ross hastily agreed.

This seemed to confuse him, since he hadn't said what he wanted her help with, but Ross was pretty hyped. He kept talking, but she was a bit busy imagining a date with Moon-Man.

"It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, so I guess I'll see you around eleven?" He said, to which she just nodded along.

Moon-Man hesitated for a few seconds, saying "I kind of thought that would take some convincing, but uh, okay. See you tomorrow."

Ross waved at him until he climbed up the stairs beyond her sight. The door opened soon after and Ross came face to face with the three inside. They waited for a second before asking "So?" in a creepy unison.

"So, I'm going on a date with Moon-Man." Ross boasted.

 _ **Moon-Man 5.5**_

Moon-Man and Ross walked for a long while before they reached the outskirts of the city. Normally squids didn't go this far, due to there being nothing in the vicinity, excluding the wall blocking their view of the outside world. There stood many defensive measures clearly meant to keep inklings in, rather than keep outside invaders out.

Moon-Man made a mental note to bring kids here sometime if they said they weren't prisoners.

Moon-Man eyeballed Ross as she nervously stepped back and forth. Moon-Man told her that she could have waited by the tram, but she said she wanted to stay with her. The sentiment not being lost on Moon-Man, she kept her mouth shut, and had lead them to the city's entrance for non-squids.

Supposedly, this city was the furthest area that creatures who not squid were even allowed to enter in their territory on a geographic level, aside from special diplomats or a king maybe.

Moon-Man wondered why her people were just now being less secretive, and allowing these cultural exchanges to proceed in the first place. Observing the large wall, and the gate embedded within it open, she wondered what her government's plans were.

She held up her small card board sign with the jellyfish's name on it, and began looking for a stray jellyfish child within the throng that proceeded into the city. She saw many creatures, from Anemone to crab, but not a single squid, not even beyond the gate. She wondered if it was automated, or if there were actually guards beyond those walls.

Ross had taken cover somewhat behind her, as the new arrival's stares bored into the two squids. Moon-Man glanced at anyone who would make eye contact, trying to memorize faces. After the mob had passed through the fenced off area, and into the actual city, a miniature jellyfish wearing a comically small hat came up to the two squids. Moon-Man stared into the eyeballs of the jellyfish, and then crouched down to meet him face to face.

"Tommy?" She asked, feeling Ross lean in towards the two from behind him, whispering not-so-quietly how cute he was. Moon-Man glanced up briefly to glare at her, getting the space she wanted, then looked back to the child.

The scrawny Jellyfish decided to play the silent game with her, only nodding to her. She tried to give her best attempt at a smile, saying, "Your mother and father sent me to look after you and show you around for a while, if that's okay."

The kid nodded once again, lifting a single tentacle towards the person behind her. Moon-Man stood and turned around, gesturing towards Ross. "This is Ross, she'll be hanging out with us."

Tommy looked at Moon-Man, staring at her briefly, with cold, calculating eyes.

Moon-Man had realized she had never seen a child before, and fought every fiber of her being to not cave into this cuteness of his. Those small googly eyes that could not find a true mark, always scanning his surroundings. She couldn't tell if he was searching her soul, or just looking at the area. His shiny blue form fluttered to Ross, and wrapped his thin appendage around her hand.

Moon-Man ditched her cardboard sign, and led Ross and Tommy around the city.

Their first of many stops was a small café where they could watch a turf battle in real time. Ross and Tommy sat by the window in tall chairs, gazing at the entertainment. The only thing separating the two teams of squids and the café was the wall of glass.

Moon-Man had high opinion on the designer's thought of how to use this building and the proximity to the war games. Set up an area where the customers could view free entertainment while relaxing and order random light foods. Pretty ingenious from a store owner's perspective.

She ordered a few snacks, and brought them to where Ross and Tommy were observing the battle.

Tommy leaned over and whispered something to Ross, who looked somewhat perplexed, then realized what he had actually said. Moon-Man deducted that the girl wasn't used to deciphering their spoken language.

"He wants to know where we're going after this." Ross inquired for the child.

Moon-Man placed the handful of foods on the table for whoever could reach and watched as Tommy felt out one of the sandwiches and started the spectacle of eating it. After gazing at the strange view, she recollected herself, and looked at Ross.

"Well," Moon-Man said, thinking briefly. "We got what, like, six or seven hours to burn?" She reached into one of her myriad of pockets, and pulled out her map.

She looked for things that crossed paths with sewers she could glimpse into along the way. Ross and Tommy leaned in and tried to decipher her sprawl.

"Okay so," Moon-Man pointed out with her finger along the map. "This is Tommy's school," then moved her finger down towards the coast. "This is where we live, so after the school, we can do literally whatever you or Tommy wants, and we'll make our way home at seven-ish."

She watched as Tommy leaned into Ross's ear again, and then Ross spoke for him, saying, "Tommy wants to see the Plaza and the park."

"Cool. We'll go there after the school, since that's closer. What about you?" Moon-Man said, looking at Ross. The question apparently catching her off guard.

Moon-Man watched her mumble words for a small time, before mumbling an "Idunno," which Moon-Man decided not to look too deep into.

"Well, eat something, and we'll go do some things at the plaza for you."

"We will?" She said, her tone wavering.

"Yeah, unless you're really bad and they don't want to give you things until you've proven yourself. You've made it past rank four right?" She inquired.

"Uh-huh." Ross said, quickly stuffing one of the sugar coated breads into her mouth.

"Well, I'll give you some free advice on what gear to get. If nothing else I can show you where to get some better casual clothes. I know they only let you in with the clothes on your back."

Ross tried to talk with food in her mouth, coughing at one point, but the point ending with thanks, and other pleasantries.

Moon-Man waved away the garbled language, and rose from her chair, offering her hand to Tommy, who clung to Ross instead. This elicited a shrug from Moon-Man, and a secret smile in her head. She had wondered if bringing Ross was unnecessary, but now it had paid off in the form of shirking her adult responsibilities to a degree.

The three left the café, and moved through the streets, sometimes walking, sometimes riding on the train. They had reached the school slowly while Moon-Man had stopped occasionally for reasons she didn't care to explain. Once she doodled on her map their collective pace would speed up. They reached the school as Moon-Man explained to Ross that she would have been in a similar building if she wasn't a denizen of this city's streets.

The building itself was off limits to all squid-kind, so they couldn't escort Tommy inside and show him around, and they had to refrain from getting to close. Moon-Man explained to Tommy that his parents would be taking him there later in the week, or so she was told.

Ross had asked about the purpose of the school, as she had never heard of one where she lived, so Moon-Man told tales as the three walked towards the Plaza.

Moon-Man suddenly realized the age gap between herself and Ross must have been a bit larger than she thought, maybe two or three years. So she used her elderly knowledge about the small time she was a student.

"It's a state run institution, where they teach kids general knowledge and are examined, until the state can decide what your talents are. From there you get options to what profession you're suited for, and get placed around our country towards the end goal of making you the best in that field." She said, stating in a monotone, rehearsed, and slightly sarcastic timbre. She looked at Ross and shrugged. "That's what they say anyhow. In reality it's a place for adults to dump their kids off and have someone make them do things."

"That sounds…" Ross began, cutting herself off when she was about to say what she was thinking.

"Horrible? Boring? It's where you'd have gone if you didn't get put here." Moon-Man said, expressing that both options weren't that great through her tone.

Ross leaned down, and listened to Tommy once more. Moon-Man couldn't help but feel that there was a pattern there, but decided not to confront it.

"Tommy wants to know what this place is." Ross said slowly, not sure herself.

"Well," Moon-Man started, wondering if she should be cynical to a child, or optimistic. She weighed her options, and just decided to say things. "Tommy. Do you know what conscriptionis?"

Tommy shook his head, signaling for 'no.'

"Do you know what a tithe is?"

Another no.

"How about the turf battles?"

Yet another no.

Moon-Man wondered what Tommy must have thought of when they were actually watching one.

Did he just considered it some form of ritualistic violence in inkling culture? That being not too far from the truth.

"Huh. Well disregarding those three things, this city is where multiple cultures can come together in a grand force of cooperation." She said, deciding to not put her own problems with this place onto the shoulders of a child much younger than her.

The answer satisfying the jellyfish, they made their way to the plaza, where Moon-Man spent almost an entire hour jumping through multiple store fronts, giving Ross advice on the best gear and combination that work well together. They then walked around the neighboring streets, and browsed other vendors. After that they went and explored other areas themselves. Moon-Man taking a hands off approach and only answering things when asked.

Tommy had lots of small questions, always asked by the proxy of Ross.

Eventually they found themselves at the park's entrance. Moon-Man explained that it was a light hangout spot for kids who wanted to act like, well kids.

However, it was almost empty.

The real problem with it was that it was out of the way, which meant people who came to the park only had the objective of going to the park. The fact it wasn't connected to anything important, made it fairly irrelevant. The lack of equipment didn't assist, with there being only a small swing set and metal bars for climbing. Other than that, it was mostly benches and concrete paths that flowed between greenery.

The question of who did the gardening and hedging jumped into her head, but she forced it onto her mental back burner. The answer was irrelevant, and she doubted it would ever be a question ever brought up to her in her life time.

From this an idea popped into her mind, and she realized that she had forgotten that this place had existed.

What if Marauder had met someone here?

She knew it was fairly unlikely, but she could check without much interruption, she figured.

"Hey guys, can you play here for a little while? I have to go do something real quick." She said to the two. Ross looked at her befuddled, but Tommy had already detached himself from his escort and made his way to the swing sets.

Moon-Man figured nothing would happen for a little while, and jogged off to scout out the area.

Nothing bad could happen in fifteen minutes, right?

 _ **Moon-Man 5.7ish**_

Ross used her entire body to push the swing up as high as she could get it. She heard Tommy squeal in delight followed by what she considered to be a jellyfish cackling madly. His laughter rejuvenated the energy that she had expended throughout the day. She had kept pushing herself to swing the weight of the small boy.

She wondered where Moon-Man had gone too, and then remembered she didn't even complete her main goal of the day.

Last night she had made a bet with Joseph in the discovery of Moon-Man's gender.

Joseph obviously betted on Moon-Man being a girl, while Ross herself betted on male. However, she hadn't been able to deduce anything conclusive all day. When they were out shopping, Moon-Man didn't seem to react to any of the cute clothes that she brought to him, but she didn't think that was enough evidence to claim that he was a she, or vice versa.

"So, Tommy," She said between swings, "why don't you talk to Moon-Man like you talk to me?"

"He," his voice interrupted by his own giggles, "scary. Feel harm close."

"That's not nice, Tommy." Ross said, frowning. She stopped pushing and looked at new arrivals she had just noticed.

"Swing! Swing!" He said, kicking his multiple legs.

She looked as three boys and a girl walked onto the pavement and stopped in front of the swings and play area.

"Hey Chuck, looks like someone beat us here." A boy with a beanie said, looking at their obvious leader, who was wearing a paintball mask on his scalp, as opposed to his face. The boy and girl stood behind the one referred to as Chuck, both wearing some multi colored camping hat.

"What're we gonna' do now Chuck? Some kids hogging the entire park. Can't have that."

"What?" Ross said, not sure as to what to do in this kind of situation.

Was she getting bullied?

She had never been harassed before, so she wasn't sure as to what it looked like. In that moment she also realized she lived a pretty privileged life.

"This kid, right dude? Doesn't even know who she's messing with. Not even hanging out with her own kind. What sort of Jellyfish clown are you."

"Wow, that's pretty intolerant." Ross found herself saying. She looked around her area desperately, looking for Moon-Man, but finding herself alone.

Wait. What happened to Tommy?

"Chuck, you think this one's a touched girl? She doesn't look too bright."

"Dale, shut up for a second. Why's this google-eyed kid staring at – GAH!" He shouted in sudden pain. She watched Tommy put a single appendage onto this Chuck character, and wasn't too sure on how he…stung him?

Then she saw the angered boy kick Tommy to the ground, and she leapt into action. She was beset upon as soon as she took her first step, however. The next few seconds were a blur to her as pain flared in her face, and the pavement jumped to meet her.

Another realization came to greet her, of how much regret one could have if they don't do a single push up in their entire lives. She found it immensely hard to get off the ground. She felt a great weight on her back, and tried to turn while being pinned, seeing the girl holding her body into the pavement.

She watched Tommy lay motionless on the ground, and hoped that he wasn't seriously injured. Moon-Man had trusted her to look after him. Not even ten minutes had passed and Tommy had already been beat up with her useless on the ground.

She felt tears fall down her face due to her incredible failure, then heard yelling.

The girl pinning her had gotten off, and Ross was able to recompose herself. She wondered what this group of kids were doing all of a sudden, then saw what they were fighting against.

She watched a beast in her neighbor's body, and understood what Joseph and now Tommy were saying about Moon-Man scaring them. The normally composed coat wielder had completely lost itself as she laid into four kids her own size and overpowered them.

Ross watched the possessed Moon-Man tackle the girl that had pinned her with her shoulder, and then sat on her and punched her twice in the face, rising immediately to catch a kick into her side, but just rolled with it. The fight turned into a rout shortly after, with the boy camper-hat-wearer dragging off the girl one.

"This," Chuck or Dale said, before catching their breath, "Isn't over."

Moon-Man, apparently having tolerance for small time, took another step, ready to throw down.

Eventually, the four left and Moon-Man went to Tommy's side, mumbling to himself. Ross watched as Tommy regained himself, and hugged the nearest person, shaking.

"It's okay. I'm here Tommy." Moon-Man sighed, looking at Ross. "I'm here."

.

.

Editor's Note: NoddingNoddingNoddingNodding

Moon-Man theme song: watch?v=iUge4tMKCDs


	7. Part Six

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Six: Indifference and Apathy are two separate things.**_

Tommy had surprisingly recovered, almost instantly, taking a large load off Moon-Man's mind.

She had been worried for a minute there, for she knew next to nothing about the anatomy of a jellyfish. She knew for a fact that their gelatinous form made them quite durable to physical trauma, but she didn't know if that went for all ages, or if that was just adult jellyfish. Tommy however, showed that it was the former, and got out of her grasp as soon as he recomposed himself.

With the main worry out of the way, Moon-Man silently looked at Ross's damage, finding nothing but small scratch growing on her forehead where she violently kissed the pavement. Ross appeared to be more in shock at how her fellow inklings had turned on her for no apparent reason.

Ross told her that the group had walked in the park, looked at them, and then harassed the two just for being there.

Moon-Man simply nodded with a furrowed brow. She helped Ross stand, but said nothing, deep in thought.

She felt dizzy as her head throbbed. She couldn't remember during the fight if she had been hit in the head, but doubted it. She wasn't feeling pain, it felt more like her temples were suffocating her concentration. Her eyes kept focusing on one thing, then switching their focus point, giving her a massive head ache.

The migraine felt more as a distraction to her though, as if something was lurking deeper in her soul, yearning to break free.

She swallowed air, and looked at the two. Ross looked concerned, while Tommy just looked pleased with himself.

"Moon-Man?" Ross asked, "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, and looked at the way the group had left. She didn't know if she should just hunt these people down and…

And what? What was she going to do?

Do what she did to Marauder?

Beat them until they're just a pile of crying flesh? Make them bleed?

Fighting to regain focus, she wondered how far she would go with them.

Eventually, she recomposed herself, calmed down, and was able to think straight.

She didn't have time to deal with those kids. Her time was better suited to anything else. This entire day had been a waste of time. She had spoken too much to total strangers. To people she didn't even care about.

Moon-Man decided to stop wasting time, and get herself together. Then she would go into the sewers and wouldn't leave until she found something down there.

"No. Let's go." She said bluntly, leading the way out of the park, and headed towards the train stop.

It wouldn't take that long to get back home, even if they would have to wait in the lobby for a little while.

The walk was horribly awkward. Moon-Man's silent attitude had even affected Tommy, who kept his tiny hidden mouth zipped. He held onto Ross, who was standing a few feet behind Moon-Man. All she did was keep walking and keep an eye on anyone else they passed by.

Eventually they returned to their apartment building. Ross and Tommy sat in the plastic chairs they kept on the first floor, while Moon-Man looked around the dark hallways. She never really explored the building's manager doors, but found them all locked. Moon-Man thought about breaking into them, but would have to force the door open. She really needed to get Catherine to teach her how to lock pick sometime, she figured.

It didn't take long for their rooms to be unlocked. Ross invited them in, and showed off a handheld game console to Tommy, who apparently took interest in it, as he kept pressing buttons and making the device make noise.

Ross eventually gathered the courage to speak, asking Moon-Man while shuffling her feet around the floor. Moon-Man looked out the window and saw Ross's roommates enter the building.

"Hey, Moon-Man." She said to get her attention.

"Mmm?" She hummed, to acknowledge the statement.

"This is going to sound weird." She said, without asking her question.

"What?" Moon-Man found herself saying.

"Are you a, uh, boy or a girl?" She awkwardly spouted.

Moon-Man turned and tried to look her in the eyes, but Ross apparently was too embarrassed.

Oh boy, she found herself thinking. We got a dumb one here.

"Isn't it obvious?" She said, messing with her.

"Ha, ha. Yeah I mean. Anyone could tell you're a…" She said, cutting herself off. "Okay, yeah I still don't know."

"I can be anything you want in a game of pretend." Moon-Man chided, then turned to the door as she heard someone key the lock.

"What does that even mean?" Ross said as her gaze met the floor in downtrodden anguish, and then turned to meet her roommates, all three of them entering.

"Yooooooooooooooooooooo'oooooooooooooooh, Hey Moon-Man." Joey said to her. Apparently realizing half way through his opening 'Yo' that she was in his apartment.

"Sup, Joey right?" She said, leaning on the wall a bit more heavily than she'd like.

That week of running through the streets seemed to have caught up to her. She watched Tommy completely ignore these new arrivals, as if they were beneath him. He would not be wrong.

"Joseph. And you know Chad and Pia." He casually spoke, as if talking to a stranger was nothing. Moon-Man briefly wondered how Joseph had been raised.

"Yeah, we talked yesterday." Moon-Man said, followed by a very long stillness. Eventually Pia broke the silence after looking over Ross standing alone in their kitchen area.

"So how was your day?" the girl said, directing it to Ross, but eyeballing the jellyfish sitting on her floor.

"Yeah you guys didn't kidnap a kid or anything, right?" Chad asked, looking over at the jellyfish and the game he was playing.

Moon-Man looked at Ross, who was hiding in the palms of her hands. She didn't honestly blame her at this point. Her exhaustion was getting to her as well, to the point of not being able to answer seriously.

"Well I mean, their just so easy to take. We just sort of," Moon-Man sighed deeply at the stares being drawn onto her, and just stated, "He's your neighbor's kid. They asked me to pick him up today."

A collective "Oh," was said by the people out of the loop. To be fair, she hadn't even told Ross until they had met up earlier that afternoon.

Moon-Man cackled briefly when she realized the situation she was in was downright ridiculous. She could be doing much better things, like sleeping! What a shame, she thought.

She just sat down on their empty floor after that. She watched Joseph and Chad shrug then bring out their own hand held game consoles, and start playing with Tommy. Pia and Ross talked in the kitchen. She mentally remarked that this Pia character was a mother hen in the making.

Moon-Man waved Joseph over to her when she was able to catch his random eye movement. She watched him slink over without getting up from a sitting position which was somewhat impressive. He leaned over to her once he got close enough.

"So, is Ross blind, or did you just not tell her?" Moon-Man said, assuming Joseph himself wasn't a blind dork who couldn't tell girls who were incognito, and boys apart.

"Hey, I tried, if she's convinced you're a dude, I can't do anything about it."

She shrugged. Moon-Man didn't honestly care whether Ross thought of her as a he, or if Joey really did try to convince her. If he did, he was going above and beyond the call of duty. In the end she just nodded, as if dismissing the inkling.

He seemed to get the gesture, and went back to Chad and Tommy. Moon-Man blinked once, and closed her eyes. She might have fallen asleep if her phone didn't ring suddenly, surprising even her. When she checked the caller I.D. she saw that it was the mother calling. She crawled up with support of the wall, and answered the phone on the way out of the apartment. She couldn't help but notice Ross slink after her in the peripheral of her vision.

"Moon-Male! Where Thomas?" Li asked with a shrill cry that echoed in the hallway.

If she wasn't awake, she was now.

"Li, we're with the squids on the third floor."

"How Thomas?!" She asked.

Moon-Man thought about lying and covering up the fact that they had gotten into a tussle, however she thought better of it.

"Okay so," Moon-Man sighed more than said, "You won't believe this."

It then took a good fifteen minutes of nonstop talking on the phone, to clarify that Tommy wasn't actually hurt, and that the girl she had brought had been injured more than him. Li was rightfully pissed at Moon-Man and her failure of the day. Eventually she calmed down and told Moon-Man she'd be there shortly.

"Right, okay. Yep. Yeah. I'll see you in ten." Moon-Man stated, trying to hang up without just blowing her off. She wondered briefly if she could just leave Tommy with Ross, but decided against it, and waited in the hallway. She sat there quietly, before Ross coughed, stating her presence.

"I'm female by the way." She said eventually, "Moon-Woman just doesn't roll off the tongue."

"Oh…Oh. I see." A crestfallen Ross said.

"Sorry if I got any hopes up."

"What? Oh, no. I sort of overheard when you were talking to Joseph."

"Were we whispering?" Moon-Man said, somewhat confused.

"You were basically shouting in the silence of the room. A cricket would have deafened us."

"Ah."

"I would have still gone with you today, if that means anything to you." Ross said.

Moon-Man thought about it, and realized that didn't mean anything to her. Moon-Man's silence seemed to spur her on though, and she just didn't stop.

"I mean, not like that. I just mean… I don't know actually. You were just the first person I actually talked too, and you ooze strength, and everyone has some primal fear of you that I don't understand, and want to." She said, hiding her face in her palms again. "I don't even know anything about this place and here comes a big guy who took charge and knows everything. I just…"

Moon-Man got sick of hearing this halfhearted talk that was the figurative equivalent of trash. She raised a hand to signal her to stop, and tried to be a semblance of understanding.

"I get it." She said, and when she was begged to elaborate by the look Ross gave, she sighed, hearing a rapid pitter patter of steps coming from the stairwell. "I do, everyone gets somewhat attached to the person who brings them in. Then they grow up either mentally or physically, and you forget about them. Just remember, I'm not your friend, I'm surely not your lover, and I'm living my own life. Also, you're like what? Eleven? Twelve at most? The only relationships you're going to keep are those you are always with. I've been here for three years, and I only care to talk to two people."

Moon-Man realized this was probably the most words she's ever uttered in succession, and wondered why she'd spent so much effort on something so silly.

"But," Ross tried to say something, but Moon-Man cut her off, planning on this to be one of the last things she was going to say to the girl.

"Not to mention, you can find almost anyone in this city as a better role model than me. Wasn't there a saying for this? More fish in the sea? I don't even know." Moon-Man rose from her sitting position, and started walking to the stairwell. She heard Ross take a few more steps, before correctly choosing to stop. She saw Li, and pointed with her thumb to the apartment's door. Li didn't even bother to say anything to her, either still mad or just focused on seeing her son for the first time in who knows how long.

Moon-Man silently rose to her own floor, stewing in the last fact she didn't tell Ross about.

She didn't deserve to have anyone look up to her.

 _ **Moon-Man 6.5**_

After Moon-Man had left the third floor, Ross had talked to Li, who thanked her multiple times. She wasn't exactly sure why, but she accepted the thanks anyhow. After their brief chat, the mother collected her son, and headed upstairs as well.

Ross was incredibly tired, beat up, and had just been rejected. She didn't know whether to cry, or just go to sleep. When she walked in, she was face to face with her roommates. Pia apparently sensing her discomfort, went in for a hug.

"Poor baby," Peebs cooed passionately.

Ross didn't even try to fight the embrace, and just slumped against the comforting body. She put her hands over her face to hide her reddening eyes from the two boys in the room.

"What happened?" Chad asked innocently enough, but might as well have been the latest punch in her emotional and physical beat down.

"Everything was going fine until," she hesitated, inhaling deeply trying not to break after getting this far and failing. "It just went horrible at the end."

"I couldn't help but notice the bruises, she didn't hit you right?" Joseph asked, which Ross immediately shook her head, signaling a 'no'.

"No, no, no, no. It wasn't her. A group randomly showed up and decided to crap on my day. They only showed up when Moon-Man wasn't there."

"I see." Joseph said, as if he was deep in thought.

Ross decided to just not admit that she lost the bet that had been made yesterday. She just didn't see the point, and Joseph didn't look like he was about to bring it up.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked, to which Ross couldn't actually answer. She almost wanted to hit him due to his ability to ask the big questions.

"Dude," Pia said, turning her head to face him. "Chillax."

"Right, I'll just go to my room." Chad said, picking up on chance to run away from any emotional problems.

"Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebs, you can let go of me now." Ross said, wiggling her arms in her grasp.

"Oh! Right. Do you feel better now?" She asked her, releasing her embrace on the tired Ross.

"Yes, thank you. But I just sort of want to go to my room too." Ross said, stepping lightly to the back of the living room, opening her door, then locking it behind her. She stumbled through the empty room in the dark, finding her bedding, and collapsed face first into her pillow. Her brain refused to give her respite into the dark oblivion that was sleep, and her thoughts drifted to home.

It had only been a week, and she was already home sick.

Ross wondered how her parents were dealing with having no children living with them anymore. She hoped her mother was doing okay with Ross's father. She was most worried about her father becoming depressed, as he spoiled them non-stop when they were growing up. She wondered what he did as a profession as he never out right told them what he did, but it didn't seem that he lacked any thing financially. If she had stayed home, she would probably have found out, Ross thought. Maybe she would have followed in her father's footsteps instead of being…whatever this lifestyle was.

She wondered whether Monica was okay. She really wanted her to be doing well. Ross constantly worried about her younger sister, even though Ross knew Monica was the more talented one between the two. That's why she had been picked to come here first.

The thought of being here a month alone scared Ross. However, the idea that Monica was having her own adventures with her own friends or roommates made her happy. Ross had met some really cool people, and Monica was bound to have met her own cool friends.

Lastly, she worried about Moon-Man. Some of the things she said to Ross were pretty pathetic. She wondered how this reserved creature that lived two floors above her came to creation, and why it distanced itself from her.

She sighed heavily into her sheets, before turning to face the alarm clock on her end table. She came to terms that it was out of her hands at this point, and that Moon-Man probably only thought of her as a babysitter for a child, and nothing else.

Ross looked on the bright side as she drifted off to sleep. Hey! At least she made some progress.

That's all she wanted anyways.

.

.

Editor's Notes: The author really doesn't care for the nickname "peebs" executive override decision:448-ex32 on grounds for immediate exterminatus


	8. Part Seven

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Seven.**_

 _ **End of Act One: Kids are Cruel.**_

Ross was standing with six other people in the regular battle lobby, waiting for the last kid to get in the room and join up so they could get on with their turf battles. She was sitting down idle, watching some kids talk amongst themselves.

She had tried to conserve as much energy she could in between battles, but the few minutes of respite they would get wasn't really much if someone was chaining war games.

It had been a whole two days since the events with Moon-Man had ended, and Ross had yet to talk or even see her in the hallways of the building.

Ross wondered what Moon-Man could be doing, and assumed it was either the turf battles, or…

She didn't actually have a clue what Moon-Man did in her spare time, as she kept to herself almost exclusively.

When she opened her eyes and looked at the group of kids filtering into the sorting area, she came to a horrible sight.

She saw one of those kids who she had met at the park a couple of days ago. What was worse, he had entered her lobby. She regretted not having one of those battle masks kids could wear, and desperately tried to put distance in between the two, however, he had apparently already seen her.

The match they played had started good, or so she thought, until she realized someone was just standing in their start point. When she had been sent back, she wasn't surprised that the guy was just sitting there. She kept her mouth shut, and let the other two on her team yell at him.

She dropped that lobby after they got figuratively curb stomped into the ground. Sadly though, she was followed. Every single lobby she tried to join, he would somehow quickly make his way into it, and would do nothing on her team, or hunt her down with a large gold roller if he was on the other.

An hour of holding her tongue later, she eventually spat out a, "What is your problem?!" surprising everyone else besides him.

"My problem? I don't have a problem." Chuck, or '[CG]_Chuck_Em' said. Ross didn't know the whole reasoning behind the underscores and big CG before his stupid name, but then again, she didn't know a lot about how kids choose their name.

"Then quit following me." Ross said, leaving the room for the tenth time. Again, he followed her outside in front of the Tower's doors.

"I can do this all week, Ross." He said, giving away a fact that he knew her name. Big deal. They had been in ten different lobbies together.

"Okay, what do you want? Since all you're doing is showing how big of a sore winner you are." She said.

"Sore winner? You set a jellyfish on me, and then had your Moon-Man beat me up." He said, apparently trying to play as a victim.

"What? Okay, now you're proving you're mentally disabled or something." How did he know about Moon-Man? Had they –followed- the three back to their apartment? Ross couldn't help feel somewhat scared.

Had she unwittingly made enemies with a kid who was a psychopath?

"How do you even know about Moon-Man?" She asked, a little bit hesitant now.

"Yeah, because no one would notice the only kid in the city with a large fricken coat on in the middle of summer. You're definitely new aren't you Ross? You should have chosen better friends, instead of one of the most hated Inklings in the whole city.

"What?" She asked, not exactly sure.

"Yeah, what?" some other kid she hadn't seen before asked, interjecting himself into the conversation. A brief look showed that this guy was no joke. He was wearing clothing that she was only allowed to look at from the stores. The only thing she recognized was the same type of roller Chuck was using.

"Butt out, guy. A B conversation, see your way out of it." Chuck told him. The new comer out right laughed in his face, before his tone shifted from jovial, to blood in the eyes hostile.

"Keep talking, I want to hear what you've got to say. Why's Moon-Man the most hated inkling in the city?" He asked. His tone suggested that this guy somehow knew Moon-Man.

"Oh you mean that guy who gave up after a single loss in what? A tournament? Takes his aggression out on anyone he meets in the streets? I'm not the first person he's attacked."

"Moon-Man attacked you? The kid behind me was right, you do have something wrong in your brain going on. You also don't know jack, kid. No one likes a guy who spits out everything he says, you know what I mean?"

Ross was actually surprised that this guy was so quick to be getting up into Chuck's face.

They exchanged taking turns in bad mouthing each other, Ross continuing to back up as it looked like they were about to come to blows. She stopped when she bumped into someone, who looked more angered than both of the boys combined.

"TOME." The girl behind her said. Had Ross met this one before?

Wait, yeah, she did. She had met her on one of the days she had just moved in. Catherine?

The girl had introduced herself to Ross on the second or third day, but hadn't explained why she was in their apartment building.

The so called Tome backed off as soon as he heard the tone of the girl shout at him. Ross tried to move out of their fields of view, but a hand stopped her from running off.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her tone changing completely into a very kind, caring one.

"Someone is talking bad about your friend." Tome said, averting his eyes as to not make eye contact with the girl.

"How cute, why?" She questioned the boy repeatedly with more and more circular questions that no matter how many times he answered, she didn't seem satisfied. Eventually Chuck got angry at this two bit act, and called them out.

"So you three are Moon-Man's friends huh? Why don't you call him over so I can actually fight the person I want to, instead of his proxy retarded friends?" He said, gaining the ire of the bigger kids.

"Oh, I'll call 'him' and you better call your stupid what? Lackeys? Goons? You don't seem like a person anyone could be friends with. Call your squad, and we'll solve this like they used to." Catherine stated, pulling her phone and shoving Ross into Tome.

"Watch it, I'm sick of women grabbing me." He said, brushing Ross off of his person. She wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but decided to let it go.

"Where are you?" Catherine said, talking into her cellular device.

Ross looked up at Tome, who was barely taller than she was, and mouthed a "What is going on?" only to acquire a shrug from the boy. She watched as Chuck backed up to make his own calls as well.

"Meet us at the Tower. Now." Catherine commanded, followed by a, "What do you mean, no? You get your butt over here now, because I'm not about to solve your problems for you. You're on trial kiddo, the claimant has demanded satisfaction by blood sport."

Tome looked just as confused by the words coming out of Catherine's mouth as Ross felt.

"Yes, that stupid looking kid with his paintball mask. WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?" She shouted into her phone, before calming down.

"Okay, I get it, your time isn't cheap. How about I share something with you. Something that you don't know?" she waited a few moments, before continuing.

"I know how to narrow down your search. Oh yeah, I know all about it. But I know something you don't." Catherine looked just as smug as she sounded when she stated this, and simply waited, waving at Ross and Tome standing side by side.

"You question, not interrogate. Now get over here before I forget where Marauder liked to hang out alone on the empty streets." Catherine sighed out.

Ross then looked at Tome, to see if he knew what she was talking about, and actually saw the normally hot blooded boy turn white.

Who was Marauder?

Catherine then pocketed her phone, and turned to face Chuck, who had come back from his infinitely shorter calls. Catherine simply said, "Give 'em a couple minutes."

So they waited, and waited.

Eventually Chuck's entire team showed up, and Moon-Man had yet to be seen. Chuck was about to say something that Ross sensed would have started a fist fight, until the infamous slow poke showed herself.

The sunglass-laden inkling was holding the bulky shooter Ross had seen Moon-Man have on the first day she had arrived at Inkopolis.

"Hey." She said to the ensemble.

 _ **Moon-Man 7.5**_

Moon-Man was ankle deep in slime and ink, quite possibly ruining her favorite boots. Standing in a very dark tunnel, she peered into a black void, with the only source of light being her phone set to dim. Normally she wouldn't mind the darkness, but this kind wasn't a warm night's embrace. This was a suffocating darkness that felt solid.

She had decided she would only scout a little bit at a time, and would leave a trail in the form of a red marker. So far she was in a straight tunnel, but it could wind or fork off at any time. Moon-Man couldn't help smile at the circumstances she found herself in.

She was wading through squid filth and who knows what, crunched over, and in a perpetual darkness. But hey, she reasoned, if she didn't do it, who would?

Without warning, her phone sprung to life, alerting the darkness with its annoying ringtone.

After sighing harder than she realized, she answered after a second of thought.

She could just ignore one of her last friends and live in the sewers from now on.

Heh.

"Hello?" She asked, shifting in the darkness and filth, listening to Catherine ask where she was.

"Where are you?" Catherine asked, as if annoyed.

"Why?" Moon-Man responded, dodging the question entirely.

"Meet us at the Tower." Moon-Man's friend said, followed by a 'Now.' Moon-Man wondered why she was busting out the tone with her. She really didn't want to go meet anyone, anywhere. However, she started to make her way quietly back to the entrance to the over-world.

"Uh, No." Moon-Man responded, seeing as she hadn't even gotten a reason to stop what she was doing.

"What do you mean, no? You get your butt over here now, because I'm not about to solve your problems for you. You're on trial kiddo, the claimant has demanded satisfaction by blood sport." Catherine spat.

Moon-Man wondered why Catherine was acting like a nerd, then translated the message she had just sent. Someone was demanding her to beat their faces in literally and figuratively?

That was a very short list, so she asked whether it was that one kid with the paintball mask. When she got confirmation, she simply repeated her first "No."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO?" She bellowed. Moon-Man had to pull the phone away from her ear. Something must have set her off, Moon-Man thought. She also pointed out she had bigger priorities in life.

"Okay, I get it, your time isn't cheap. How about I share something with you something that you don't know?" Catherine breathed out. Moon-Man was curious about what her friend could possibly be referring too.

"I'm listening." She found herself saying.

"I know how to narrow down your search." Quickly followed by an almost bragging Catherine, showing off her detective skills. "Oh yeah, I know all about it. But I know something you don't."

"I don't know who you've talked too, but anyone on those lists are dead ends… Are you saying I missed something?"

"You question, not interrogate. Now get over here before I forget where Marauder liked to hang out alone on the empty streets." She said, as if exasperated by just talking to her. Moon-Man soon heard the other end of the call click, signaling that was the end of the talk.

She tried to do basic math and probability, and figured it was a bluff. However, she seriously doubted Catherine would lie to her, and risk ruining their friendship forever. So Moon-Man climbed out of the sewers, went to her apartment, sanitized herself, tied shoes, and left to go participate in a turf battle.

Moon-Man had promised not to go into one ever again, after the whole tournament debacle, but she figured that it had been a year, and this meant nothing to her so long as she could get to her goal quicker.

It took her a few more minutes, but she eventually stood in front of a small crowd of kids. She frowned to herself when she saw Ross, and quickly pieced together the story.

"Hey." Moon-Man said, standing in front of the seven squids.

"About time," enemy number one splurted, roller in hand. She briefly eye balled the other three standing beside their leader. "For a minute I thought you weren't going to show."

"For a minute I thought you weren't going to show." Tome said in a high mocking tone.

Moon-Man barked laughter at the display, seeing how Tome and the other ring leader guy were basically the exact same person.

"Alright children, let's do this. I don't have all day." Moon-Man said, climbing towards the Tower's entrance.

Eventually she came face to face with the Tome clone, and brushed past him, coming face to face with the real Tome. She glared daggers at him, and was greeted in kind.

"If I find out that this was your ruse, I'm going to make you disappear." She said, without levity in her throat.

She saw him take the unveiled threat in stride, and spat on the concrete, saying "Wasn't my idea."

She squinted her eyes, showing that she didn't believe him, and noticed she had successfully thrown off the 'bad' guys. She snarled a fierce smile, little did these kids know that this battle had already begun.

Moon-Man had proved to the four aggressors that she felt that her team mate was more of a threat to her than all of them combined. She showed them that their existences meant nothing to her, like the ants they were. Next she would take the initiative of deciding the actual game.

"Hey, this is a challenge right? You're challenging me, right kid?" Moon-Man said, turning to face the group leader.

"What? Yeah, I guess?" the Tome clone said, looking for backup in the clueless scrubs behind him. Moon-Man figured they were fresh level twenties or close enough, and were trying to carve themselves a name.

"Cool. I guess I get to decide the whole game terms then. Best of five, blue versus OJ, Blackbelly Skatepark. Sound fair?" She said, going into the actual lobby and started setting up the match.

"Wait, what? You can decide that?" Tome clone asked, to which Moon-Man blew raspberries.

This guy might as well be a first timer, she thought.

"Yeah. For now at least. The rumor is that we're going to be doing king of the hill instead of this, but for now…" She said, clicking the terminal and setting the game up. "We're blue, by the way."

"Fine." The enemy said. The other three seemingly cowed sufficiently, she left it at that. Moon-Man then left to go talk to the Catherine who was signing into the war game.

"So. You know that the people who actually know me are going to see this, right?" Moon-Man asked, wondering if Catherine knew of the probable ending after this.

"Your point? You're going to go live in the sewers after this anyways. Chances are we won't see you for days." Catherine said, guessing Moon-Man's plans to the letter. She turned to face Moon-Man after signing in.

"Nawh, more like, two days at a time. Tops. I don't want to be down there for too long. This info better be legit, too." Moon-Man said, a bit more energetically then she normally would have. The idea of being close to the actual start of Marauder's trail thrilled her, she realized.

Ross came up, prodded along by Tome's presence. She looked absolutely terrified. Moon-Man couldn't blame the youngest one of them.

"Um, should I even be here?" Ross said, her eyes darting left and right constantly avoiding the three separate gazes pointed at her. "I'm only level five…" She said, her voice fading quickly.

Catherine and Tome looked to Moon-Man as their team captain, to raise morale. Moon-Man breathed deeply. She put both her hands onto Ross's shoulders and made her look into her eyes.

"Ross." She said.

"Y-Yes?" Ross shifted uncomfortably.

"I want you to do one single thing this game. Well, two actually."

"O-Okay."

"The first, and easiest, is to not leave the first third of the map."

"What?" She asked.

"I want you to micro-manage the closest section to our jump pad as hard as you can." Moon-Man stated. Giving Ross the easiest job of the home guard.

"Uh, Okay? I think I understand?"

"Do you?"

"Not really."

Moon-Man nodded. Well, she was about to get a lesson in basic math, she thought.

"Okay, let me explain some really important things on the way." Moon-Man started to drag Ross by the shoulders closer to the doors. Catherine and Tome pushing her back to make her move after the initial resistance. Moon-Man noted that the other group was plotting their own plans as well.

"So Ross. You're going to cover the entire first third of the map on your own. Then you're going to guard it. That will guarantee us with at least thirty percent of the map, right?"

"Right." Ross said, apparently starting to feel optimistic at the authoritative tone Moon-Man had pulled.

"Okay, so we three are going to rush down each branch, Catherine taking and holding the tower in the middle, Tome at the bottom, who will then push up and help Catherine, and I'll be heading to the north part of the map, and just hold that entire area."

"What?"

"I'm liking your short responses. Great attitude kid. So once you're done inking the entire first third of the map, you're going to run back and forth as a squid and cover anything that gets past. That's the most important bit. Gun down anyone who makes it past us, and fix the damage they make."

"So what was the second thing you wanted me to do?" Ross asked, demonstrating her short term memory's function.

"The hardest part. Don't die. You're our last line of defense, kid. If you go down, it will take us at least twenty seconds to get back and hunt whoever splats you, then get back to our original spots. Then the rest of the game is fighting to get our original positions back. But that won't happen, because you won't fail."

"R-Right." Ross said, feeling the weight of her responsibility.

"You're going to do fine, and we'll win in a total of twelve minutes. I promise." Moon-Man said, and saw Tome raise his brow.

"We're going to let them win one?" He asked, but Moon-Man just laughed a single time.

"Oh Tome, you're so silly. There's a one minute intermission in between battles, remember? C'mon man. You think we're going to lose to some wannabe scrub lord and his goon platoon? This is why I do the heavy thinking."

"Oh right, I forgot I was the pretty face." Tome said, sharing the singular bark of laughter. "Ha."

Moon-Man watched Ross look back at Catherine, before she realized she was surrounded by madmen. Twelve minutes, three wins, zero losses. Moon-Man looked at the kids going into the tram that would lead to the skate park.

The idea that these kids were just stepping stones to a goal they knew nothing about brought a grin to Moon-Man's face.

 _ **End of Act 1.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

Editor's Notes: One of favorite chapters by far.


	9. A2: Part One

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Act Two**_

 _ **Part One: A Start.**_

When she was pulled into the girl's locker room, Ross could barely believe how quickly those games had gone.

She eyed the girl next to her warily, who was donning her coat from the metal container it had waited patiently inside. This gaze was unrequited but Ross believed that the person she was staring at knew the look she was being targeted by.

Minutes ago, she was in almost nonstop pitched battle to paint the most ground but the quiet murmur of the locker room was a stark contrast towards her mental state.

Ross watched her Guide don a small beanie over her tentacle bun.

In the first ten seconds of the first game she was able to cross the skate park in barely a few moments. She had watched the older girl jump and fire in short bursts, turning into her more malleable form frequently. Finding her ink trail ending they would repeat the process. The amount of distance traveled was blinding to Ross.

As Ross had started to paint the turf below their initial starting point; the experience of the older kids had shown immensely. Catherine had rushed the center, and had started to gun all the surrounding area, drawing the first splat. Ross had watched Catherine seemingly fire an endless amount of Ink onto any surface below her vantage point, directing it towards any of the orange stained bad guys.

When Ross had finished her entire team's back area on their half, she had unwittingly moved closer to the south of the park, and started covering the myriad spotless terrain Tome hadn't even tried to cover with his large roller.

She then watched him unfairly catapult large globs of ink onto their current enemy's orange turf. Ross then viewed the opposing group of kids rolling around in simulated pain, before being launched the very short distance back to their so called spawn point.

Tome hadn't been alone in his over extension, having made a speckled path of blue ink with the flings of his large roller. Moon-Man had joined him, albeit behind a covered outcrop of concrete which she used for cover from their two chargers on the enemy team. Ross had moved closer to the tower's base to watch the spectacle, and wondered at how the enemy couldn't break through these two individuals.

Ross had watched as Moon-Man made two paths around this outcrop, and whenever an enemy decided to jump down, she would take the other and gun them down quickly. Before one, or in some cases, both chargers could even charge their weapons, she'd already be out of the laser sights. Tome, noticing that his team mate had drawn three fourths of the team's attention, make his own jumping way, flinging all the while, some landing on their players who would immediately had to fall back or face simulated death.

When she had looked up, she saw Catherine immobile, watching the scene with a predatory grin going from ear to ear. She had made eye contact with Ross at one point, and simply waved her forward, as if telling her to go join the two that had been fighting nonstop.

So Ross had taken the chance to paint the turf that wasn't blue, going over the little orange that had stayed untouched in her team's blitz. Eventually, she had looked hesitantly towards the two versus four, but none of the orange team members were able to break through past Moon-Man's and Tome's blockade.

When the ending horn started playing on the arena's speakers, two large screens had lit up above both team's initial starting areas.

Ross had walked back to look at the screen, watching a bird's eye view of the current arena. When she saw how much blue Ink was dominating the ground, she eye-balled her team mates, none of whom were cheering. When the cat announced the obvious winners, she had watched Moon-Man shrug. When they showed the team's personal stats, she was shocked to see herself at the top of the chart.

Ross had looked at the other two and asked how that happened. Catherine, who was at the bottom of the chart, looked puzzled by the question, saying that the one on the top usually was the one with the most turf painted.

Ross, realizing that she was asking the incredibly stupid question, hid behind her hands. She had rarely been on a winning team, let alone the team's highest score. She had broken eleven hundred points, with the extra three hundred point winner's gift.

Tome had patted her encouragingly on the back, saying that she did a good job. As the screen changed to prepare for the second round, and informed them to head back to the entrance of the Skate Park.

They sat briefly outside the gate, but in a scant few seconds, they were ready to enter again, the concrete bowl showing no history of the previous three minutes of action. Moon-Man had told them that they were going to do the same plan.

Orange team, however had apparently warmed up from that crushing defeat, and had rushed the turret with all four members of their team, attempting to 'jack knife' into Ross's own team's half of the map.

For two minutes, Ross and Catherine had fought a desperate battle, trying to dodge sniper fire as Tome had circled around multiple times, harassing their backs. However, as soon as they were able, they'd rush back via launch pad, and land near they had previously been, all to repeat this process.

In the last thirty seconds, Ross had begun to worry, then she realized she hadn't seen Moon-Man for the entirety of the match. Catherine had slammed into Ross during that point, and made her activate her so called 'bubbler' that was attached to Ross's junior. The bubbler then activated on Catherine by proximity. Ross followed Catherine, trying to fire at the four who were now concentrating their barrage, pushing the two girls back.

Then, very quickly, the charger fire ceased from their overlooking height advantage. Ross was close enough to see the moment where Chuck's face contorted into pure rage. Above him, Moon-Man had stood, suddenly queen of the hill.

Outnumbered and beset by multiple directions, Orange team's shooters fell quickly, and the rest of blue team carved a path into the orange turf, staining the ground blue.

As the horn beckoned the stop of the game, Ross could unmistakably hear Chuck's yelling clear from the other side of the arena, berating his team, and shouting 'We had it! We had it!' However, the bird's eye had shown differently. Though the win wasn't a complete stomp, the loss of the middle area and not having any of the sides covered basically sealed the orange team's fate.

In the waiting area, Ross had watched Moon-Man pull over Tome, and tell him that he needed to go "Ham", whatever that meant. Ross had whispered to Catherine asking what the word meant, which made Catherine look puzzled again.

Moon-Man then came over to both Ross and Catherine, grasping their shoulders lightly. The scarred hands were followed by her voice, telling a premonition of how the next few minutes would pan out. This game was match point, and the enemy had to win it, or get aced and look like complete chumps.

Moon-Man had said with great determination that they would indeed be chumps in the next three minutes, and marched them into the skate park.

As soon as the horn buzzed to start the third round, the three rushed off as usual, Ross painting the ground around the pad and began her task of staining the grey concrete. Two dozen seconds later however, she was fired upon by orange ink, which had barely missed her by the skin of her teeth. Chuck's cohort had come, rushing her with his own splatter shot. Out of desperation, Ross stepped back, and squeezed the trigger on her junior.

She had fired nonstop for several seconds with her eyes closed, before hearing the dry click of an empty ink container. Ross looked around, trying to find any orange kid in front of her, finding none. Had she won a duel by sheer chance? She had thought to herself at the time, then realized that she was being watched from above, from the higher path that lead to the north side of the map.

Moon-Man's hard eyes bore into her, her Gal pointing at where Ross's attacker had broken through her team's defensive line. Ross watched her mouth open, before closing it shortly. She then turned her head sideways, and changed into her squid form instantaneously. Orange ink splattering the ground where she was previously standing. Ross watched as Chuck desperately tried to find the ground surfing Moon-Man, as soon as he changed directions, Ross watched Moon-Man gain her form once more, then gun him down at point blank range.

She watched Moon-Man wipe away the slight orange that exploded with Chuck's kid form that had found its way onto her face. Ross had made eye contact with her Guide, who spoke to her, simply saying, "That's how you deal with flanks." Before disappearing back into the zone she was controlling.

The rest of the match passed by quickly, the orange team seemingly giving up once the thirty second mark hit.

Apparently Chuck's driving yells were doing nothing for the two chargers, and the other shooter on their team had just decided to sit out. Shortly after, Ross moved towards the exit, having won the three out of five games just as Moon-Man said they would.

Chuck had moved towards their team, even after the match had ended. He had rushed towards Moon-Man, who stood her ground, un-phased by the sounds of victory music emanating from their pad's large television screen. Ross had turned to watch when Tome and Catherine had both stopped walking.

She had remembered that exchange quite well, as Chuck had yelled about his team, yelled about her team, and in the end started faltering when he realized the look of utter disdain on Moon-Man's face.

She had simply said, "You're too loud." And had left him there, leaving no room for argument

His face became perplexed, before shouting, a 'What?'

Ross watched Moon-Man turn, tell him to face the facts, or be a child forever, and just because you're loud doesn't mean your words mean more than anyone else's. She turned to leave again, but he halted her once more, quieter this time. Asking, 'How did you know I was behind you?' referring to the moment when she probably point blanked him.

She chuckled, Moon-Man directed her gaze onto Ross.

"I felt your fear." Moon-Man said with a grin on her face.

Chuck, seemingly satisfied, or just ignoring the jest, simply nodded, then decided to back off. He might have mentioned something about thinking on what she had shown and said, but Ross couldn't truly remember.

The group had left from the exit back towards the Tower, where they had originally departed barely half an hour ago. A short ride later, they had gone to the locker rooms to get their stuff back.

She sat and watched Catherine draw on Moon-Man's map of the city, they conversed how a deal was completed, and good byes said. Ross was about to interject, but Moon-Man rushed pass her, near running out of the building. Ross felt her stomach churn as the predatory smile that was on Catherine's face had seemingly transferred to her idol. A contagion of blind determination.

.

.

Editor's Notes: If only we had an economy around drawing pretty pictures.


	10. A2: Part Two

_**Moon-Man Chronicles Two: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Two: The Trail.**_

Moon-Man traveled in the dark, the sounds of unidentified liquid echoing in the concrete tunnel as the only company she had.

An hour ago, she wouldn't mind these circumstances in the slightest. She would tiredly embrace them, but some anxious feeling had crept on her heart and refused to leave.

The games were finished in quick succession as she had predicted. She had relied on the assumption that here opponents weren't as good as her, for the fact that she hadn't seen or heard of them prior to her long hiatus from the Turf War scene. At one time, nearly a year ago, she had grown tired of the constant adrenaline rush and had decided to quit after her loss in a tournament which would decide who would get the ultimate bragging rights or something.

She wondered what happened to those four kids, now that the thought crossed her mind. Moon-Man hadn't been in a Turf war since, and she wondered why long dead emotions had resurrected in her.

But the emotions were diluted. The real combat she had felt a month prior had raised the bar for all the feelings she had received however. So she fought with herself, trying to keep the pride of leading a squad down in her gut as she continued to work by herself.

She continued to follow the tunnel, which she had found the entrance to next to an alley that branched off from the back of Marauder's building.

For nearly an hour she had slowly made her way into the seemingly endless underbelly of Inkopolis, and methodically she worked her way to where she was now.

The sewer pipe had led her to a grand chamber, for lack of better words. Sun was filtering down through several slots in the top of the ceiling. The tunnel she had been following lead to a vertical drop, and when she looked downwards she saw dozens of similar openings and large pipes that sprouted from the concrete cylindrical room she was gazing into. She scanned the entire area, and watched a scarlet red figure standing on the center of one of the pipes that outcropped over the large drop.

Moon-Man's eyes couldn't see the figure in detail, so she slung her Gal across her back, and ran as fast as she could before launching herself onto the nearest pipe.

She landed lightly, before jumping downwards multiple times on other similar pipes, before reaching the larger one where the figure was standing.

She unslung, and shouldered her shooter, aiming it at red figure. Whoever it was, the build was similar to that of a squid, but the tentacles that were stationed on its head was a cone of flesh, tied together with some tether.

The figure then started to speak, in an incredibly soft, almost alien, but similar to an Inkling voice.

"Marauder. We were beginning to worry." its voice cooed, "We were about to start without you, and we all know you didn't want to miss it for the world."

The figure turned, facing Moon-Man for the first time. His eyes seemingly pierced her lensed gaze, with bright red pupils, and obsidian irises that had a cold light dwelling within. However, she couldn't mistake his boyish inkling face.

He seemingly recognized her as well for not being Marauder, and raised his hands in surrender. His claws raised slightly over his head, he began to step backwards slowly.

"Hello," He said, eyes narrowing at Moon-Man's shooter. "I apologize, I thought you were someone else."

Moon-Man continued to point the business end of her weapon at the stranger. She thought briefly on how she would go about questioning this… creature.

"You know Marauder?" She found herself asking, receiving a nod from her new found hostage.

"I do. Are you one of his friends? I'd be grateful if you would tell me where he is." The boy took a small step towards her, stepping away from the edge of the pipe they were standing on.

"How do you know him?" She asked, looking over his flesh. She could see it was spotted red, with strange patterns here and there.

After glancing at her exposed hand, she realized he had been scarred in a similar way as she had. This creature had been exposed to the dangerous substance of water.

"He works with me," he said, taking another half step away from the edge. "However, he went missing a month ago, not by any chance you know why?"

"He works with you? Doing what?" She asked, ignoring his question entirely.

She watched the figure frown, apparently the question dodge made him quite sad. He tried taking another step towards her, before she threatened him with death by ink gun should he move once more.

"Okay, okay. Calm down… I'm Infy. What's your name?" He asked, raising one hand slightly in front of himself, as if it would help should she choose to open fire.

She thought shortly about whether to share her alias with the almost inkling, but didn't see the harm in it, stating her name as Moon-Man, he smiled.

"Moon-Man. What do you think about this city? Don't you think it is odd how there are no adults? How you are made to fight in combat just to survive in this place they put you in?" He asked, as if preparing a speech.

He waited briefly, but without a sign of an answer, he continued his spiel. "Do you know what indoctrination means? Your government is teaching an entire city of children how to fight. Have you never asked yourself why?"

Moon-Man said nothing for a while. She didn't know what this inkling was trying to prove, but she had shared the same sentiment when it came to this city. If she was about to get answers to some of the bigger questions she's had, Marauder could wait.

"Tell me." She asked, gaining a toothy grin from the thing in front of her. The more she looked at him, the more differences she found between him and say, Bojable or Tome.

"This city is meant to train an entire generation of soldiers, who can only –be- soldiers. They teach you nothing but how to fight, to the point where the kids crave violence. Does that sound like a healthy way to raise kids?" He asked, stating his very biased thoughts to her.

"No." She said, agreeing with him.

"Indeed. I have been working for years to bring down this system, would you want to help me?" He offered. She didn't take her eyes off him after that, sensing some form of desperation.

"I don't know. Tell me what you are first, Infy."

"What I am?" He asked, taken aback, but smiling nervously.

"Do you know what a mutant is?" He questioned, but when he received silence, he continued. "Basically, I share similarities with an Inkling, but on the genetic level, I'm different."

"Different how?" She asked, seeming to find a line of questioning that put this Infy character off stable ground.

"Does that matter?" Infy questioned back.

"It might. I'm an indoctrinated Inkling, remember? So tell me what you are, and I'll decide whether to join your plan to kill kids."

"What?"

"Marauder killed two kids, Infy. You work with him, so you kill kids. Or was that too big of an assumption?"

"I don't kill children." Infy said, his soft voice becoming harder.

"Then who's Beak?" She asked, taking a single step closer.

Infy nervously chuckled, before saying, "Which one? There's about fourteen of them. Your government loves that word for some reason. There's Squid Beak, B.E.A.K., B-e-e-k-e. Going to need some more specifics."

She frowned at that. "B.E.A.K." She said, each letter leaving her mouth with a tinge of annoyance.

"Moon-Man, I don't know how you know about them, but I'd like too. I'd like to hear the stories you have, and what happened to Marauder. But I need an answer on whether you'll come join me or not." His voice sounded like genuine emotion, but she wouldn't trust anyone she'd only met for barely ten minutes.

But why was he rushed all of a sudden? She looked out of the corner of her eyes, looking to see if someone or something had found its way into this large chamber.

"Moon-Man."

"No. I want answers just as much as you, but you've done a poor job showing trustworthiness."

"Then I'm sorry. I want you to know that I don't kill anything. I'm a pacifish." He said, smiling sadly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. But they aren't."

The next second became a storm of action. As she pulled the trigger, Infy jumped off the side of platform they were standing on, grasping a smaller pipe while he dangled over the large drop. Moon-Man didn't have time to think about Infy though, as she ran forward to dodge the laser that was targeting her from above.

Moon-Man saw another strange creature that was similar to an inkling, save for a curly tentacle on top of its head. In the not-inkling's hands was a charger, with the muzzle aiming at her head.

The meaning of the word 'they' suddenly hit her like a train, and she scanned for more enemies as she ran towards the far wall, which the large cylinder led towards.

As she was aiming for the tunnel that lead into the sewers and out of this chamber, she noticed she had goofed.

Either the not-inkling with the charger had the ability to teleport, or she had a clone, Moon-Man figured. As the second enemy fired their weapon at her, she dodged the purple ink that spewed from the muzzle of the shooter, throwing herself into the void off the pipe.

Luckily for Moon-Man, she looked before jumping, and only had to fall a hundred feet or so, before she landed on a similar pipe that she was just on. She could actually see where the light in the large chamber ended, and the bottomless void began.

She could also hear shouting coming from Infy, the words distorted by her rough landing. Moon-Man figured it might have had something to do with her impending escape, as she leapt across from her landing onto a sewer's entrance, similar to the one she had entered from.

A couple dozen feet into the dark tunnel, she could hear the landing of two creatures, which only hastened her steps into the unknown.

.

.

Editor's Notes: You've gotten a lot farther than you should have, but then again...


	11. A2: Part Three

_**Moon-Man Chronicles : (Not a real email.)**_

 _ **A2 Part Three: Subject to Change.**_

Moon-Man realized she was starting to worry.

She had been able to find an exit to the concrete maze she had fled from, but the not-squids had only been a step behind her. When she found light and returned to the surface, she tried to find any land marks, but all she saw were empty buildings against the last orange flares the sun was giving to say goodnight.

Dogged, she ran into the unnamed streets of Inkopolis, but the farther she went the more unrecognizable the city seemed. Normally at this time of night, large lamps of metal would illuminate the dark and yet there were none where she tread.

Moon-Man had apparently traded enclosed darkness for open darkness, she thought bitterly as she continued to dodge the two that relentlessly hounded her.

The rapport of a charger being fired made Moon-Man dive into an unfamiliar building. As she rose and took a step simultaneously she found herself grounded once more, followed by the near deafening sounds of metal hitting metal and hard surface.

As she regained her composure and running stance, she wondered what purpose that pile of metal pipes would serve in the construction of this building. Her dizzied thoughts kept spinning, but at first sign of those horrible little dots that signified her enemy's eyes she continued her exploration into the unknown.

She walked past several advantageous positions, which would have served her as great ambush spots if only she had the liquid munition. She ducked inside an empty doorway into a small room to check her ink canister. She felt the numbing pain in her right hand as she released the safety switch that was supposed to lock her weapon outside of the Turf battles. Moon-Man's face darkened as she saw how little ink she had left.

If she was in a Turf battle, she could just shoot the ground once, then have a perpetual supply of ink, she thought bitterly. She grew anxious, trying to think of a way around this problem. The idea of her foes slowly creeping through the same dark building looking for her made her sick to her… stomach.

She knelt to the floor near the door way, checking the hall quickly, then put her shooter down. Moon-Man quickly forced the lid open, then thought about the last time she had eaten. She started to think back on the small anatomy lesson her father had taught her, and found the usually undiscussed portion of the inkling's body.

Moon-Man punched herself in the location where she believed the ink sac was located, as hard as she could. Normally, the ink sac would sit dormant in their body until they turned into their smaller forms, from which they could do a number of things, such as quickly dispense their secretion into their plastic cylinder during the Turf battles. But since her weapon wouldn't do that function now, she was doing the equivalent thing in a bit more roundabout way.

As pain filled her mind, so did the levity of the situation.

Moon-Man, vomiting blue liquid into a plastic tube, had done some desperate things in her short life.

Sleep in trash. Become involved in a murder case. Watch said murder case become a double homicide case. Beat culprit of said double homicide into the dirt with her fists. Walk, and run through knee deep sewer waste. Contemplate suicide. Now, topping off the entire list, was forcing herself to projectile vomit bile into her weapon, so she can fire it at unknown enemies.

If only her dad could see her now, she thought, wiping off the small bit of liquid that had stayed around her mouth. More contemplation would have to wait, she realized, hearing the soft steps come from the hallway.

She hurriedly fixed her canister, slinging it onto her back, picked up her Gal, and waited for the two to enter the hallway. However, the two didn't seem inclined to pass the corner, and Moon-Man refused to peek her head out of the room.

It felt like hours had passed.

Moon-Man eventually felt the moon's incandescence shine into her refuge and was able to get a better look around the previously pitch black room. She quietly made her way to the window, weapon still pointed at the doorway leading into the construction site's hall.

Taking a peek into the open streets however, was an impossible task. All she saw were unmarked street corners, and half-finished buildings. She tried to make a mental map of how she got to this point, but hours of running in the sewers made basic navigation impossible. She at least knew where north was, due to the moon, but with no landmarks, she figured that she would have to choose a direction and keep going until she hit the city's curtain wall, or the ocean.

A sudden sound jolted her back to the matter at hand, and realized one of the Not-Inklings had entered the door way, and loosed the charged shot they had been patiently waiting with. Moon-Man, deciding it was time to jump out of the glass-less window, fell down two floors, bouncing lightly when her feet hit the cement. A surprise was waiting for her on the ground however, which greeted her with a hail of ink.

Moon-Man returned fire in kind, pleased to see she didn't vomit ink for nothing. Taking a few splashes of the purplish pink ink from the ground level shooter, she realized it was exactly like an inkling's. This troubled her slightly, seeing as these creature's had much different tentacles on their heads. The creature backed off almost immediately due to the heavier fire from Moon-Man's Gal. Moon-Man took this opportunity to back off from the window, trying to dodge the charger fire.

So she ran.

With little idea where she was going, Moon-Man continued to head south trying to recognize where in the city she was. Every few minutes or so, the not-squids would attempt another attack, but would fall back before Moon-Man could return fire.

These trades continued for hours, with either the charger or shooter coming close to her, even after the sun had risen. She had become annoyed during these engagements, as she would usually get hit once by the shooter, who would run off uncaring about the waste of ink they were leaving. Their weapons obviously not the limited version's the kids of the city had.

The only thing stopping her from turning on them was the exact limitation these two were exempt from bearing. If she slowed down to barf up more munition, one of the two would punish her for it. She bitterly had to give them compliments for their effective tactics they had been using.

One of them was always able to be detected, while the other one was off either resting, or waiting to spring another ambush, and due to Moon-Man's conservation of ink, they didn't have to worry about her doing something extreme, like ink jump her way up a large building.

Exhausted, Moon-Man continued exploring the stupidly large construction site. She wondered why there weren't any crews currently working on –any- of the buildings. She had been running around for almost thirty hours and still had yet to see any signs of life.

Wondering if their city's builders got weekends off, she continued to trade fire with the two not-squids, eventually noticing differences between the two. Noticing that neither of them even came close to the looks of the one who called himself Infy. She wondered if they too were mutants, or another species of aquatic humanoids like she was.

She was about to try to start a dialogue between the one right behind her, when she felt the earth disappear, and fell off the paved road she had been running on.

Moon-Man had flipped during the fall, head hitting rock on the way down, and had hit what felt like platforms of dirt as well. Her body, acting like a spring to the force of the landing, just kept her bouncing, and continued to fall down this pit. The same thing happened three more times, before her body just refused to keep tumbling.

She wasn't in extreme pain, as inklings are usually immune to damage by quick stops, however the tumble had knocked the wind out of her. She blessed her coat however, which had pinned her gun's sling to her body during the fall.

Precious seconds burned away as she physically forced herself to stand and prepare to do one of those 'last stands', but with shaky vision and tired legs, she knew she was out of the survival situation and into the "Die with Honor" phase, which Catherine had talked about.

As she saw her two hunters sliding down the large dirt roads that lead to the bottom where she was, she begun to put down some of her ink making a path to maneuver around. With half of her ink remaining, she mentally prepared for this final battle.

Moon-Man stared the two down when they finally reached the bottom of this earth carved pit. All three of them realized that this would decide how the past two days will end, and there would be no running.

A long second passed before Moon-Man acted.

Charging forwards, she baited the first shots of the charger and shooter, turning into her squid form before doing an about face.

Moon-Man then rose from the small path she had made, and fired a three round burst, hitting the charger once due to the shooter ducking out of the way. The charger tried to fall back, but hadn't been surfing on their own ink, and when they changed to their own smaller forms with their strange rounded heads flopping uselessly on the unmarked dirt.

Moon-Man then focused onto the still humanoid shooter, firing several times while backing up very slowly, trying not to jerk her shoulders to steady her aim as much as possible. This one apparently realizing it couldn't close the distance, moved into Moon-Man's spray, trying to weave before eventually succumbing to the hail she had released. She watched the not-squid similarly release its ink sac, releasing a large wave of blue onto the brown dirt.

Moon-Man then turned to the last not-squid, and sadly realized she had used the last of her ammunition. Her back up plan of pinning the charger to the ground and vomiting ink into its face wouldn't be possible, as she was suddenly shot in the torso with the pink ink from said charger.

Being splatted always felt weird, as her own ink sac ruptured and exploded to the new color that had over ridden her own. By the time Moon-Man had regained her kid form, she was looking up at two very angry not-squids, with their ugly red dot eyes.

Moon-Man heard the click of their weapons before she saw the pink ink hit her body.


	12. A2: Part Four

_**Moon-Man Chronicle 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Four: Change of Subject.**_

A rhythm of nonstop hammering woke Ross up.

She groggily made her way towards her apartment's door, cracked it open, and was met by a quietly shifting figure biting her thumb.

"Catherine. Are you alright?" She found herself asking.

Ross hadn't seen Catherine in almost four days. "It's eleven." She said, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, hey. Look uh," Catherine started, scratching intensely at her scalp. Ross didn't know Catherine that well, but she doubted this was how she acts normally. "Sorry, it's late, but have you seen Moon-Man?"

Ross looked at Joseph who had come out of his room to check on the door and waved him back. She slipped out of the front door, and closed it behind her.

"Not recently. She rushed out of the tower after the games right?" Ross's half asleep brain took grasp of the situation. "Is she missing?"

Catherine nodded, and paced around outside her door. Getting a better look at her gave signal that Catherine hadn't slept in quite some time, reminding her of the visage of her fellow apartment resident.

"Yeah, you were kind of my last hope here." She breathed with a sigh.

"Did you check her apartment?" Ross said, getting a look between exasperation and desperation.

"Of course not." She said, rushing down the hallway with a sprint. Ross, blinking away the surprise, took after her with haste.

Ross almost caught up with her, up until the stairs, when Catherine jumped every other step. When the chase ended, Ross watched as Catherine opened the door. Their eyes met briefly, apparently an unlocked door wasn't what she was expecting, Ross figured.

Catherine went in first, flipping a switch that did nothing. A snide remark about Moon-Man's living conditions were said, and Ross got to see what her fellow resident lived in, and was shocked by the room.

The first thing she got to see, was the mess on Moon-Man's floor. Clothes strewn about with papers decorating the flooring. The wall across from a small foldable cot was covered almost to the ceiling with pictures and scribbles. Ross could barely read the hand writing but was able to see some words like Marauder and Mastermind in the dimly lit room. She also wondered how Moon-Man was able to tape the pictures that high.

"Catherine?" She asked, looking for her companion that was searching the rest-room.

"What?"

"What is this?" Ross asked, taking a look around the small dwelling. Ross had assumed that this building's apartments were like her own, or something similar at least.

"The wall? Better not to ask." She said, coming out into the main room, followed by a "She's not here."

"Yeah I see that," Ross said, taking a closer look at the wall of pictures. Ross however, couldn't decipher the meaning behind the lines and gave up after a few seconds. "Maybe the Jellyfishes heard something?"

Catherine nodded, and left Moon-Man's apartment almost instantly, leaving behind Ross to take one last confused look into the mind of the girl she had been idolizing since she had gotten to this city.

When they got to Li and Jones's place, Ross decided to do the knocking, and got an answer on the fourth attempt of waking one of them up.

They found a… Ross couldn't tell if this jellyfish was just sleeping, as their faces were pretty hard to get a solid expression on, but she could easily infer that they were slightly or extremely upset.

"Ross-girl, Catherine-girl, what you want? It is late." A definite Li asked.

"Hey Li, wanted to know if you've seen Moon-Man," Catherine asked, her desperate expression transcending all cultural barriers.

"Non, which is strange as we usually trade, but Moon-man missed week. Is she gone?" Li asked, tone slightly calmer.

"Yeah, she been missing for… Four days?" Catherine asked, looking at Ross for confirmation. She couldn't help but nod her head in agreement.

"Wait. I call Jones, you have phone number right?" Li asked, Catherine looked perplexed at the phrasing though.

It took Li a minute or two to explain, but conveyed that Jones worked at the city's telecommunication center, and could trace the last known location of Moon-Man's cellular device. At the inquiring gaze of Ross, Li went on to explain that Jones was working nights to spend the day with Tommy until they got him up to speed with a day care system, as both parents were working for the city's infrastructure.

Catherine seemed to get it instantly, or was just pretending too, leaving Ross with her own ignorance at some of those word's meaning.

After a brief conversation between her husband, Li started writing multiple things on a pad of paper. Apparently finished, she turned to the two squids in her living room.

"The phone was last on in the industrial section. You know where that is?" Getting a confirmation from Catherine. When Ross looked at her to share her ignorance with Catherine, she explained.

"The industrial section is half the city which is under construction. It isn't off limits to squids, but there isn't anything there so we don't usually talk about it. Do you know where exactly in the zone, Li?"

The jellyfish moved its whole body, as if to nod her head, searching through a drawer in her kitchen, bringing out a city map. As it began to draw a path for them, Catherine told Ross to get her gear if she was coming along.

Ross, not to be left behind in this mystery, headed down to her apartment to grab her Jr. and shoes. When she entered the living room, Ross was met face to face with Joseph, Chad, and Pia, who were each lounging around the small table.

When she entered abruptly her roommates stood, each asking something at the same time.

As much as she wanted to answer their questions, she had too many herself and simply couldn't. Rushing into her room, she slipped on her running shoes, grabbed her Ink bottle, and clipped the rig onto her back.

"Where are you going?" Chad asked as Ross checked the straps tightening the tank to her body.

"Has something happened? Is this about Moon-Man?" Pia asked as Ross moved out of her room.

She was halfway to the apartment's exit when Joseph grabbed her wrist.

"Ross. Wait for half a second." forcing Ross to look at her friends.

"Guys…" Ross said, not sure exactly what to say. Settling for an "I'll explain when I get back. Just… wait for me to get answers myself, yeah?"

Joseph hesitated, staring at her before letting go and looking at someone behind her. That someone being a very shaky Catherine, who was holding a map in one hand, and her shooter in the other.

As few other words could be said, Ross and Catherine left the other three in silence, exiting the building and entering the breezy streets.

This was the latest Ross had been out in the city, and as she tried to match Catherine's hurried pace, she watched their shadows grow and shrink at each passing street light, until they waited at the train platform.

The two were lucky, as the tram's circuit never ended, no matter the time. On the long ride, Catherine mentioned if it hadn't been running, they'd have had to run for quite some time.

Instead, they only had to wait seemingly hours, until the train pulled to the end of its circuit. They quickly got off before it decided to head back the way it had just come, and jogged through the night, eventually finding the a sign that said 'Under Construction.' There was a small chain link fence signifying that this area was in fact, under construction, but seeing as how chain link stops no squid, they ignored its words and went into the unlit streets.

Catherine had used her phone's dim light to look at the map several times, but hurried along at haste. Ross never saw any hint that Catherine was lost, even while navigating through the dark, unmarked streets.

She would have been impressed if she wasn't so scared of every shadow she thought she saw.

This area was completely different from the city she had been living in until this night. Other than the fact the only light they had was the moon and occasionally their phones, this place had no signs of life other than themselves.

In the city, there was always somebody, whether it be squid or other kinds of life. A light on in a window, or a noise being made from a building nearby. Ross had thought her street lacked denizens, but even they had birds bringing song to the soft crashes of the ocean waves.

Not here.

Not in this concrete maze.

The only sounds she could hear were the sounds she and Catherine were making between breaths, and the sound of her own heart pumping. No birds, no other kinds of life, which made the moving shadows seem much more terrifying.

Shoving her private fears aside, she looked at Catherine as she had stopped, and when she finally caught up, they stared into a void. Their road had completely vanished.

Catherine looked at her, and offered a hand.

Ross felt obligated to hold it, as they made their way down into the abyss.


	13. A2: Part Five

_**Moon-Man Chronicle Two; Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Five: Hunting in the Dark.**_

Ross felt her junior slap her thigh with every hesitant step.

In one hand she had her phone set to the brightest possible setting, and in the other, Catherine's hand kept them tethered together. They had both had kept each other from tumbling down further into the dark chasm they were exploring.

Catherine had suggested they use their cellular devices as improvised flash lights, and it had proved to be of little effect until they had hit the first of the many tiers of dirt. She had hoped that would be the end of the descent, but soon realized she was on just the first of three more layers.

They took great care to support each other on the downward slopes, and Ross couldn't help but think of the pyramids she had seen from her general history lessons.

Supposedly, early squids had gigantic stone structures built from the earth, to get them closer to the sky or away from the sea. Now Ross felt like she was traveling down one, instead of stone block however, was dirt, and more dirt.

Their quick descent ended shortly however, as they reached what Ross had to assume was the last floor. They searched around, but they couldn't find a way to go farther down, so they split up, looking for any signs of Moon-Man.

The search did not take long.

Ross had felt bogged down, and realized her shoes stuck to the dirt slightly. When she had pointed her phone downwards, illuminating the ground, she saw large swathes of dirt clumped up in a pink liquid. Catherine apparently seeing the same thing where she was standing, called Ross over, and made her illuminate the areas she pointed out.

She could see small traces of blue ink that had remained untouched since it had been put down. There were very few blotches where the blue stained the earth, and in comparison to the pink it had been very one sided, Ross realized. Catherine had been careful not to disturb the trail, and followed with it, trying to find the origination of the blue, eventually leading them towards a large pink circle that glistened in the phone's pale light. A few feet away, was a large circle of blue, as if to copy this pink one.

"Catherine, what does this mean?" Ross whispered, questions on her mind. If Moon-Man was the blue ink, who had made the pink? Who did her fellow apartment dweller fight?

"This is days old," Catherine responded hesitantly. She then went down to her hands and knees, staring at the drying ink with intensity.

Ross tried to copy her movements and look at where she was staring at, but only saw dirt and more mud. She eventually asked what it was that Catherine was looking for.

"There are different foot prints, see?" Catherine said, carefully putting her hand into a small dip in the loose earth.

"I guess?" Ross responded, not really seeing it.

"Trust me, Moon-Man got splatted in that pink circle." Catherine said, the black atmosphere hiding her expression.

"Then what about the blue one?"

"Moon-Man splatted someone there."

"Which means?"

"Which means, they took each other down, or she hit someone, and then that someone's back up got her." Catherine said, raising herself to a crouched position, and prowled around past the large swathes of dirt encrusted ink. Ross felt inclined to follow, and eventually Catherine stopped her.

Ross's companion pointed down, pointing out the first signs of Moon-Man's being there. Very carefully, Catherine raised the Gal.96 off the ground, disturbing the dirt that had been the weapon's bed. She handed the weapon to Ross, and kept moving forward, looking for other possessions of Moon-Man.

The weapon felt much heavier than what Ross had been used to. The junior had a simple plastic shell, but she could feel the metal weigh this weapon down, from the barrel, to the small ink rotatory system near its trigger. Ross had seen Moon-Man use one hand to fire this weapon accurately during the three games they had played together, enforcing the image of the strong warrior that Ross had pegged Moon-Man for.

Which made Ross worry even more at the thought of Moon-Man being without her weapon.

Ross quickly chased after Catherine, weighed down by this artefact. Catherine had passed the ink canister that had been matched with the Gal.96, standing over a phone that had been cracked in half.

"Catherine?" She found herself asking.

"This," Catherine almost shouted, before regaining her composure, "This means nothing." Seemingly speaking to convince herself rather than Ross.

Silence echoed in the valley they had entered. Their phones went dark due to inactivity, but even with only the small lights of the stars to illuminate the darkness they were engulfed in, Ross didn't dare to make a move towards her companion.

"They dragged her up," Catherine said eventually, reactivating her impromptu flash light, and leading Ross further into the dark. They soon hit a dirt incline. Ross presumed it was like the earth ramp they had gone down. "If they had to drag her, they wouldn't go that far."

Ross nodded, even though Catherine had her back to her. Something in Catherine's tone made Ross want to be as small as possible, and make as little noise as could be. The exhaustion in Catherine's tone had apparently vanished, replaced by a silent rage that was felt, rather than heard.

So the two made their way up, finding it quite the challenge due to Ross carrying a second set of weaponry. She was still too scared to complain though, as she realized even if she wanted to flee, she wouldn't know how to return to the train station.

It took time, but they eventually made their way up to street level. The night still being young, and the lack of street lamps, made their endeavor quite difficult, until they heard almost a whisper on the wind.

Catherine perked up at the sound, not sure what to make of it, before leading Ross onwards past many streets, before stopping once again. Ross didn't know why her company was rushing all of a sudden, before they heard something Ross hadn't heard in many years.

When Ross was a child, she and her sister had played with other kids who had lived close to them before they had moved to the empty country.

She couldn't remember their names or how long they had known each other, due to her brain not being fully formed yet, but she remembered one event where one of their friends had gotten themselves stuck in a fence. The call it had made was the first and only time Ross had heard it, until this moment.

The noise was a terrible bellow of agony, and the inability to save itself. She remembered her friend having shifted from their squid form before they had gone through the fence, and had more or less fused with it. The pre-inkling's life wasn't in any danger, but being trapped without understanding made the fearful creature produce a tone that sent a primordial sense of urgency into her spine.

The call of a dying creature.

Catherine took off once again, with a speed Ross had yet to see in an inkling. Ross desperately tried to follow, burdened with gear that wasn't hers. She eventually caught up to Catherine, who had done a last check on her weapon to make sure it worked. Ross watched as Catherine jimmied the safety switch that would normally stop the weapon from being used, save for in a turf war.

Ross put down Moon-Man's gear, and tried to do the same, eventually figuring it out. Catherine had barely waited for her, entering the building as the third bellow started, then was cut off instantly.

They rushed their way up the half-finished building, clearing floor by floor. Each room they peeked into, Ross hoped they would find the missing Moon-Man. They checked every single one, until they had reached the fifth and final floor. Both Ross and Catherine could see light pouring from the room's entrance way, illuminating the hall.

She could hear whispered conversation coming from the room, and followed Catherine's lead, as they quietly snuck up on the doorway. Ross could make out words that were heavily accented. The whispering had roared into a lesser yell, but from what she could hear, it was almost only threats.

"I'm bored of this game. My sister is hungry, and you're keeping us from going back home to enjoy the fun. So…" The distinctly feminine voice said after a pause. "You talk, or I cut you up, and let my sister eat you."

"The fire's perfect Bepa." Said a much another distinctly feminine voice, this one much closer to the doorway. Ross could feel the dramatic change of temperature the closer she had gotten to the doorway. Had they started a fire in a concrete box? That's a safety hazard!

The first voice had apparently not gotten a response, and turned to face the door way.

"Have it your way squid-girl." The first voice said, Ross feeling Catherine touch her arm.

Their eyes met, and Catherine nodded at her. They were going in.

"Sis, get the knives from…" was all it said before Ross and Catherine had entered the room with weapons drawn, aimed at the two strange looking inklings.

Ross was pointing her shooter at the girl sitting beside a fire, burning what looked like scrap wood. The more she looked at it, the more she realized what she was looking at wasn't an inkling at all, but something alien. She followed its black clothing all the way down to what it was resting on, seeing a familiar brown coat.

Catherine, apparently seeing something before Ross, shot the one Ross had been aiming at. The resulting explosion of orange ink strangely didn't extinguish the fire quick enough, as she saw what appeared to be a faceless monster of flesh and metal rise from the floor, and with fangs bared, sunk its teeth into the sister's throat, and then pull the pale flesh from its neck.

It took long seconds for her eyes to adjust back to the darkness, but the image still burned into her mind. Catherine continuously fired upon the small flopping form that Ross could see out of the corner of her eye, but that did nothing to distract her from the scene she had just witnessed.

The slouched form of the eyeless monster looked at her despite its impairment, and coughed. Ross blinked multiple times, seeing a set of four horns in the shadow. She was unable to move at the sight, and just stood frozen for several long seconds. The only sounds were Catherine's shooter, and the wheezing of the demon.

Ross wondered if this was all a dream, before being shoved roughly by Catherine.

"Ross, what are you doing?! Quit standing there and help her!" her temporary companion shouted at her.

"Why did you bring Ross?" a weak voice rasped in the darkness. "C'mon Catherine. You know…Better." Said, fading out with each word.

Ross, finally seeing straight for the first time, saw a crumbled Moon-Man, barely standing over an image Ross was desperately trying to block out. She soon realized that the image she saw wasn't horns, but Moon-Man's arms and long tentacles being hoisted to the ceiling by some sort of wire.

Then she saw the rest of the body of the person who had introduced her to this city, and dropped her weapon, feeling a terrible emotion grasp her heart.

"Moon-Man…What did they do to you?" Ross asked, tears streaming from her eyes.

.

.

Editors notes: rip


	14. A2: Part Six

_**Moon-Man Chronicle Two: Electronic Jigaboo Jive.**_

 _ **Part Six: Poor Decisions.**_

Moon-Man was made painfully aware of certain facts during her two day ordeal.

One, Inklings were fairly tough. Due to their shape shifting abilities, most physical damage was easy to recover from. So it only took about ten hours for the self-proclaimed "Octarians" to get the hint that beating her with metal pipes wasn't going to work.

Two, Octarians were pretty adept fishers. Each one tended to carry their own fishing supplies, like two dozen or so hooks, and wire that was made not to snap under strong pressure. So when the two not-squids decided to move on from beating her with pipes, to piercing her body with the serrated hooks, they had wires all around the room, pulling in several different directions.

Three, these specific Octarians were pretty knowledgeable when it came to squid. Moon-Man had made this discovery when her torturers decided to impale her ink gland with a sharpened pipe. It was a very surreal few days after that had happened. Being unable to regenerate Ink, and then watching as the precious blue liquid dripped slowly down the pipe and onto the ground. Luckily, she wouldn't have to worry about that sight for long, as the next thing they gouged were her eyeballs.

Four, if an Inkling doesn't have a constant supply of that precious multicolored Ink, their regeneration ability takes a dive. It even made it difficult to change forms to their smaller squid body, she would find out. That had ended pretty terribly, as the hooks didn't actually leave their position, and had only increased the pain she was receiving. She realized that Ink did quite a bit more than just shoot out of guns.

This fifth fact, taught her much about her own anatomy. That ink had been a pretty vital point in keeping her body's temperature and moisture. For the first time in her life, she had felt truly cold. And though she couldn't see her pale flesh turn paler, she could feel her skin begin to wither and crack after a few more hours of being beaten.

Moon-Man felt many new pains during this experience, and tried taking them in stride. They might be killing her, she reasoned, but she had realized quite quickly that they could have done the killing blow whenever they wanted. But if they were fishing for information, they weren't quite keen on actually asking. In fact, since her failed last stand, the two hadn't said a word to Moon-Man.

They would keep this creepy silence as they started to methodically cut into her flesh. However, with no ink coursing through her drying skin, she didn't know what they were trying to accomplish other than cause her pain.

When they had finished what she assumed was their live autopsy, one of them got very close, and whispered a story in Moon-Man's ear.

A very biased account of how the Inklings had stolen the Octarians's land, and how this had caused a near extinction among this Octo-Kid's people. How her species were inherently evil, and how Moon-Man would die painfully and alone and it would still be of no recompense to this Octo-girl.

Apparently, using the last of Moon-Man's ink to spit in the girl's face wasn't what the Octarians had been looking for.

Moon-Man then had to learn how to deal with being actually stabbed. She assumed it was some piece of glass, as the blade seemed to shatter once it had pierced her leg. Sadly, she couldn't help but react to that injury, and felt her body start to shake rapidly.

With only one leg to support her body now, she soon began to slump against the wires that held her up. Moon-Man would have shamelessly cried, if only she had the moisture in her eyes to make an attempt.

Moon-Man didn't know how to fact check the quieter of the two's story, but she was almost one hundred percent certain about the accuracy of one part of it. She was more than likely going to die. However, she wouldn't be dying alone so long as these two octopi were still trying to get information from her.

The quiet and loud Octarians would take turns asking Moon-Man questions after that leg shank. Mostly to do with Marauder. Usually asking about locations, or when he was last seen. Sarcastic answers were met by blunt object to the body, while silence was met with a fresh cut on her dried flesh.

To try to increase the length between the hits and cuts, Moon-Man would attempt to make a decent tale, before adding it with an insult. Her favorite had been the flower picking story she had made up on the fly.

"Okay, so…" She would start, taking in the burning air. "Me and M- I called him M for short by the way- were out in the park prancing around like a pair of fairies, when all of a sudden, we found a baby Octarian, and punted it into the ocean."

After the few seconds of metal rod meeting her side, and then air once more burning her lungs, she made a hybrid of cough-laughing, and finished puking what little food had been in her stomach.

"Just…Just kidding. You see, some idiot gave M- I called him M for short by the way- M, a water gun. So really I held the baby down while he sprayed it, melting its stupid face off. You should have been there. Quite a s…" Moon-Man would have said 'spectacle' if the metal rod hadn't slapped her in the face.

Talking was a bit harder after that, but she did manage another two stories before having to fall silent.

The loud one seemed frustrated after that, talking how this was a massive waste of time, and how that Infy guy would start the assault without them. To what they were referring too, Moon-Man doubted she'd get to know.

"Bepa, I'm getting hungry." The quiet one said, stomach growling. Moon-Man started to feel like she was about to be out of the freezer and into the frying pan. Even blinded, she could feel the pair of eyes staring at her.

The loud one, or Bepa, paced quietly in the room. The metal threat screeching across the floor. Moon-Man couldn't help but feel her time grow short.

Soon, heat sprung from some corner of the room.

"You've got barely five minutes to talk, squid." Bepa had said. However, Moon-Man was deliberating on whether they would really go through with the threat, and the nutrition in an Inkling's flesh. She really doubted that it would be healthy. The following silence made this Bepa Octarian mad for some reason, and vented her frustration onto Moon-Man.

Moon-Man, having a new object pierce her last good leg, fell, pulling the wires and hooks farther, and making pain flare through every part of her body. She had been devoted to silence, but her body refused to die quietly, and roared what little life remained in her lungs and throat.

A few minutes later, she could feel the fire starting to rise as the temperature in the room increased.

Again, the threat was repeated, and again, Moon-Man's body was forced to roar in death's face. She was bound, blinded, and on the brink of death. They could have left her alone and the outcome would have been the same. Moon-Man was going to die.

Her brain refused to listen to the outward world after that. Everything sounded incredibly quiet, save for the pumping of some liquid in her head. Her thoughts drifted to many places. She wondered how Bojable was going to take her death. Who was going to keep Tome in check without her? What would happen to her coat that her father had given as a parting gift? She wondered where her father was, or if he would even get the news that his daughter had died.

She then had the horrifying realization that no one would discover her body. She really was going to end up like Marauder.

No one was going to even know that she was dead.

That exhaustive thought made her remember the face of the girl who had died in front of her. Moon-Man hadn't even gone to find out what that one's name was. At the time, she had tried to block out the image of the motionless inkling, as the thought of a living creature with aspiration and drive had simply become nothing was too much to bear on Moon-Man's conscience.

Now she was about to meet the same fate.

Her mind focused itself, hearing the last of the loud Octo-girl's speech. "…Cut you up, and let my sister eat you."

"The fire's perfect Bepa." The quiet one said.

Moon-Man moved her least damaged leg under her, trying to locate the voice of Bepa. Moon-Man had went from the Die with Honor stage, back into a survival situation, back into a Die with Honor stage.

Bepa mistook Moon-Man's silence for refusal, saying "Have it your way squid-girl." However, the Octarians didn't realize that all Moon-Man was doing was lining up the last shot she had energy for.

"Sis, get the knives from…" A pause. Bepa had paused. In her mind, Moon-Man had made a mental map of the room she was in, and had leapt with the last of her might. However, without arms to back her up for a punch or a choke, she had only a single option left.

As Moon-Man felt flesh tear from the hooks that had been holding her in place, she heard a shooter go off, and realized someone had discovered them. She didn't let this thought even stay fresh in her mind as she felt her fangs sink into the location where Bepa had spoken from.

Strength fled from her shortly after. Moon-Man couldn't feel her legs, and began to collapse, the last of her strength going into twisting her own neck as hard as possible. A gratifying hiss of air hit her face as the flesh in her mouth came with her from its host.

Something she had known for some time, was if an Inkling's body was say, detached fully, no amount of ink could replace it quickly enough. In fact, her father had told her about it when he explained why he only had a single hand.

Moon-Man could only hope that an Octarians's anatomy wasn't that far off from an Inkling, as most Inklings needed more than half their throat to survive.

Three out of however many hooks came free from her right arm during that action, allowing her head to bounce off the floor, while her body was still being held in the air. Maybe she had loosened some of the wire, she thought.

Coughing the sludge of meat from her mouth, she wondered what had happened with the shooter, and who it had been.

"Ross, Blah blah blah blah?!" Moon-Man was fairly certain that Catherine was speaking. "Blah Blah blah blah blah blah!" Moon-Man was also fairly certain that Catherine was speaking gibberish. However, she felt insulted that Ross was there in the first place.

This stupid girl refused to leave her life, she figured as she tried to get enough oxygen in her lungs to speak.

"Why did you bring Ross?" Moon-Man couldn't help but mumble the words. "C'mon Catherine. You know…" The last of the air had escaped, leaving her to gasp the last word out. "Better."

Moon-Man would put money on Ross just standing there in shock. She was going to die before someone would even help her. Being unable to remove the pipe that had siphoned her ink from her, she resigned herself to death.

But hey, at least she wasn't alone.

They might even bury her in her coat, she thought hopefully as feeling left her entirely.

.

.

Editors Notes: Confusing motifs are usually better. Apologies for the edge; don't cut.


	15. A2: Part Seven

_**Electric-Moon Boogaloo 2: Man Chronicles.**_

 _ **Part Seven: Strangers in the Night.**_

Ross, still stunned, was shoved forcefully out of the way.

She watched as Catherine put the coatless body of Moon-Man on her back after ripping out the metal pole that protruded from her stomach. The soft gurgle Ross had been hearing was abruptly stopped.

She continued to stand there, her ignorance of how to help leaving her useless. She stared at the torn flesh of her hero in the dark, and as Catherine desperately tried to get any signs of life from the body, Ross couldn't help but think the worse. This thought made her feel very painful emotions she hadn't truly felt before which shook her into action.

Moving beside Catherine, Ross asked what she could do to help, while doing her best to ignore the second form near to the fallen hero.

Ross knew Catherine had to be exhausted, and probably in a much worse emotional state than she was.

Catherine mumbled quite a bit, going through a mental checklist out loud, before Ross put her hand on Catherine's shoulder to get her back into the real world.

"Remove the hooks, I need to see if she's breathing." Catherine said, putting Ross to work instantly.

Although afraid, she gently touched the dried skin of Moon-Man, tugging the serrated metal out as quickly as she could. She didn't like how it took a few rough tugs for it to leave its victim's wounds. As she did this horrible task, she watched Catherine lean close to Moon-Man's mouth, and gasp.

Catherine had hurriedly brought her hands to Moon-Man's neck, trying to find something.

Catherine, apparently not finding what she was looking for, pinched Moon-Man's nose, and inhaled deeply.

The next few seconds were very tense, as Ross watched Catherine's entire body cover the Inkling's head. After breathing as much air into Moon-Man as possible, Catherine moved to Moon-Man's heart, clasping her hands together, and shoved all of her weight into Moon-Man's chest.

As Catherine made small downwards presses, she explained to Ross what she was doing. Basically saying that even though the Ink sack wasn't penetrated anymore, it wouldn't go to the rest of the body if Moon-Man's heart wasn't pumping.

The question of "Is she dead?" was apparently the wrong question, and Catherine's silence answered her with a "Not yet."

As if to answer for herself, Moon-Man's torso shot up, gasping and sputtering for air. They all watched as moisture started to flow into the girl's limbs almost instantly. They then all got a firsthand experience at the healing ability of Inklings.

There was an almost translucent sheen to Moon-Man's pale flesh. However, at closer look, Ross could see that many of the cuts that had been inflicted onto Moon-Man had stayed, although faint.

"Moon-Man?" Catherine asked, holding the downed girl's face in her hands. When the only response was a shaking Moon-Man on the floor, Catherine brought the face to her chest and embraced her friend.

"Mruh! Rhuah!?" Grunted Moon-Man from her new position.

"Catherine, let her breathe." Ross stated, smiling.

Ross watched Moon-Man intake a full breath of air before she weakly asked where the other Octarian was.

"She's in the corner, by your coat." Catherine said in a whisper, ignoring the newly name dropped creature.

"Ross, help me up. Catherine, take her stuff." Moon-Man gasped out.

Ross couldn't help but feel obligated to do as she was told, and put all of her strength into lifting Moon-Man, finding it incredibly hard. Eventually she figured out a comfortable way to make her stand, even though she was quite smaller than the Inkling.

When Ross eventually started to get Moon-Man hobbling, she understood that almost every step was a fight. They had barely crossed the room before Moon-Man was completely out of breath again. How they were going to get out of this construction area was beyond her.

Catherine started saying a list of what was before her and the downed "Octarians."

"We've got three cellphones, one looks like it's an Inkling's. They've got an assortment of wires and fishing hooks. Some… Weapons." Catherine said, pausing.

"Tie her up with the wire, and take the cellphones. Ditch the guns somewhere." Ross's charge whispered.

"Right. Guns." Catherine said.

"Ross, give me my coat please." Moon-Man whispered into Ross's ear.

Catherine pocketed the phones and dragged the assortment of weaponry outside the room. She immediately returned, helping Ross with the monumental task of getting Moon-Man in her overly large coat.

They slowly made their way through the building, each floor taking several minutes due to the many breaks needed by Moon-Man. Ross was admittedly doing her best, but both of Moon-Man's legs were still barely functioning. Moon-Man's weak grip on the stair rail had nearly made them fall several times as well.

Catherine had taken point and had waited outside, tying the slings of Moon-Man's gear that had been ditched around herself. They then began to march their way through the empty city, while trying to lean on any structure for support. Ross was breathing hard under the heavy burden, but she was glad Moon-Man wasn't in her smaller form. She didn't want to be dragging the same weight, at least this way they could walk side by side.

However, Ross didn't know how long that would last, as Moon-Man's whispered mumblings were hinting at the true condition of the wounded girl. Names were being dropped as well, such as 'Marauder' and 'Infy' and 'Beak'. What these names meant, Ross still didn't know, but now that Moon-Man was talking, Ross tried to ask a question during their painful walk.

"Moon-Man, who is Marauder?" Ross inquired, as his name had been dropped several times by multiple people.

"I'm… I'm not… Like him." She said, her breathing becoming more and more ragged.

"I know. You're Moon-Man." Ross stated, feeling touched in the head.

"Right," Moon-Man said, before asking where they were.

"We're outside. Trying to get back home." Ross said, feeling the burning in her legs. Ross noticed she was basically walking for both of them at this point.

"It's so dark." Moon-Man stated rather lucidly. "We're not in the sewers?"

"No." Ross stopped moving, fixing Moon-Man's arm that she was holding around her shoulders. She readjusted her weapon's position, then wrapped her left arm around Moon-Man's waist. She wished to think that this was getting easier. "Were you in the sewers earlier?"

Moon-Man nodded once.

"What were you doing there?"

"I, agh. Wait. Stop." Moon-Man said, before wheezing and grasping her chest with her free hand.

"Catherine?!" Ross shouted, drawing the attention of the girl who was leading the way from quite some distance. She watched Catherine rush back to them, and went to Moon-Man's side, helping take the weight in some way.

"Breathe, Breathe. We only have a little ways to go." Catherine said to Moon-Man. After the wheezing died down, and Catherine was reassured that Moon-Man wouldn't keel over in the next ten seconds, she went ahead and actually dialed someone on her phone as opposed to just using it as a flashlight.

"I was looking for Marauder's friends." Moon-Man continued, slightly more lucidly.

"In the sewers?" Ross asked, trying to distract herself in the growing weight of Moon-Man.

Again, she nodded once, cryptically saying it was the only place they could be.

Ross asked what had happened, but Moon-Man only restated "It's so dark." She had asked several questions after that, but hadn't received a coherent answer.

"Moon-Man, what's your favorite color?"

"Moon-Man, why do you use the .96 Gal?"

"Moon-Man, why do you live in that apartment?"

"Moon-Man, how did you meet Catherine?"

But only mumbling about plots and bad mannerism was all Ross had received in reply. So she focused on the road in front of her, but even that got tiresome. She had guessed Catherine was leading them through a detour so they wouldn't have to make that impossible climb of that pit. Ross briefly wondered why that had even been dug out in the first place, as it was just sort of in the middle of the road when they had ran through.

"Moon-Man, where did you get your coat?" Ross asked, trying to find anything to keep her charge talking.

She thought she would get silence, before Moon-Man's mumbling mentioned her father.

"Your dad?" Ross asked, trying to get an affirmative.

"Dad?" Moon-Man asked in a tone that said she was confused.

"Yeah. Another word for father?"

"Oh. Father… Dad." Moon-Man said, face downcast towards the earth.

Ross again thought she was going to get silence, before Moon-Man went on a seemingly unrelated tangent.

"A month ago. I saw something that reminded me of him."

"What was it?" Ross asked, seeing Catherine wave them onwards. Ross could see lights.

"A monster." Moon-Man said. Ross gawked at the illuminated face of Moon-Man, and noticed how her eyes weren't…right. Nor was her mouth. A broken smile grinned at an image that was only in Moon-Man's vision.

Ross looked away after that, and planted her gaze into the pavement, lest she look at the maddening image of the weight she was carrying.

It had felt like hours had passed on the march, but Catherine had lead them out into the light of the city, holding the chain link fence open for her to cross.

The burden she carried got immensely lighter as they walked towards the train platform. Catherine picking up the other half of Moon-Man. They had to wait on a bench for a short while on the platform. Moon-Man had continued on her slight ramblings, and had even chuckled to some joke Ross and Catherine weren't privy too. Catherine had in the spare time bandaged Moon-Man's eyes loosely.

Ross had asked if the damage would be permanent. Catherine had assured her that it shouldn't be a problem, and Moon-Man's healing ability was probably prioritizing more important parts of her body, followed by a maybe.

When the train arrived, it didn't come alone. As soon as the doors opened, Bojable had stepped out of the first doors, hugging Catherine, then greeting Ross.

His worried face had told that Catherine must have filled him in to some degree on the phone when she had called. Ross led him the short distance to the wounded Inkling, getting a similar response that Ross had originally given. The thought of telling him that it had been worse didn't seem right, so she kept her mouth shut, and was trying to get Moon-Man whom had turned to dead weight, up and onto the train.

However, as she had tried putting her might into lifting, Bojable had nudged Ross out of the way, and lifted Moon-Man by the knees and back. Ross hadn't really noticed just how tall Bojable was, as he didn't have the same presence of strength as Moon-Man, or even Catherine.

"Whoa." Moon-Man said, apparently getting a strange feeling of floating.

Ross watched Moon-Man shift in Bojable's arms, and heard her say, "You're a big guy." Before cackling lightly.

The four of them entered the cabin of the train, and sat in an awkward silence, with Bojable in between Ross and Catherine, still holding onto the passed out Moon-Man.

Bojable broke the silence, asking how this had happened, and why Moon-Man had been damaged to this point of severity. When they couldn't answer the question, he seemed upset, but sighed.

"This is all my fault." Bojable said. Ross felt the look of confusion on her own face and only saw Catherine shake her head that was buried in her hands.

"No. It's not." Catherine stated matter-of-factly.

"It is though. If I didn't tell her about…" He said, before trailing off.

"And if you kept your mouth shut, who knows how many would be dead." Catherine said, not changing her tone.

"I..." Bojable was about to start, but just sighed.

"Wait, what happened?" Ross asked, completely tired of not getting a straight answer.

Catherine looked at Bojable, as he was the least tired of the four of them, and hinted at the boy to explain.

"About a little over month ago, a guy named Marauder killed two Inklings with a water gun. To be brief, Moon-Man beat him with our help. But we wanted it to be the end of it when it obviously wasn't."

Ross was stunned at this information. Lots of ideas floated in her head. A little over a month ago?

Bojable looked like he was about to cry already, and Catherine looked so tired. Ross decided to hold off on the questions for a little while, and waited silently as the train stopped several times. Bojable shared some stories of how he had met Moon-Man when this city first started.

Apparently, and unsurprisingly, Bojable was bullied heavily. That was until he had met Moon-Man, who had stuck with him. He told of how she stood up for his inability to fight other Inklings. He smiled sadly at the crumbled form of Moon-Man who he was holding, as he told how she had complimented his inability and or refusal to strike at other squids, no matter the cost to himself. How the first people who had entered the city were very blood thirsty and afraid, and it had mellowed out by the time Catherine and Tome had come to the city.

He looked on the verge of tears when he said how Moon-Man swore that she would pick up the slack Bojable had left, and they had made their first team together, and had been a part of several tournaments until the first televised one, in which she quit after they had lost.

Ross was somewhat interested in that story, and wondered how big of a year difference this boy had on her.

Eventually the train had hit their stop, and Ross led the way to their apartment complex, followed directly behind by Bojable, with Catherine tiredly holding onto his shirt with her eyes closed. She checked the time, and realized the sun would come up in only a few hours.

As she led the way up towards Moon-Man's place, Bojable thanked her, and said he could take it from here, and left her on the third floor. Ross watched a barely awake Catherine stumble after him, going to the fifth floor.

Ross entered her apartment unceremoniously, and unbuckled her gear leaving it on the floor next to the apartment's entrance. Thankfully, Ross's roommates had returned to sleep, and Ross had no intention of waking them. She entered her room and immediately crashed.

She would try to get some real answers during the day, but until then, she would rest, and dwell on some of the new things she had learned.

.

End of Act 2

.

Editor's notes: What goes cheeki, must come breeki, Ivonsky.


	16. A3: Part One

_**Mune-Mang Chronicle 2: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Act Three**_

 _ **Part One: The Hurt.**_

The nightmare had ended.

Moon-Man realized as she had awoke in complete darkness.

She had dreamed of a monsoon, washing over and destroying all in its path. All species ran for any cover they could, even the ones who weren't even affected by the destructive nature of water. Yet this storm swallowed them. Buildings becoming ruins and their inhabitants melting till there was nothing left of them. Moon-Man was helpless in this dream, watching from far away from the clouds that ushered non-existence. She watched in silent horror at the image that haunted her, then awoke.

Moon-Man blinked several times. Feeling something on her face, she hesitantly moved her arm and felt the soft fabric of a towel. As she tugged the cloth wrap off her face, Moon-Man looked at a strangely familiar room.

Her apartment's interior had changed drastically. Her crazy wall had been taken down, and all of the pilfered things she had taken from Marauder's apartment had been put back into the boxes she had brought them in, and stacked in a pyramid.

On top of the stack of cardboard, three phones sat with a screen of black. One was recognizable, but the other two were of strange design, more rounded instead of the common design that most Inklings were familiar with. Strange, she thought, being unable to find her own as she shifted through her coat pockets.

Moon-Man slowly made her way off her foldable cot, and looked about the clean room, wondering who had done the action of housework. Her mind decided that that thought could wait, and hobbled her way towards her refrigerator, and proceeded to open one of her ration packs.

She briefly wondered if the gray goop always tasted so flavorful, shoving much of it into her mouth. Moon-Man quickly regretted this, as she puked the contents of her stomach into the trash.

Eating slowly now, Moon-Man looked upon new scars sewn in her flesh. She briefly wondered what had happened, forcing the food to stay down. For some reason, looking at the newly acquired scars had given her a migraine, causing great pain in her temples.

Putting the carton of gray matter on her counter, Moon-Man felt a wave of pain wash over her and decided that standing was for chumps, then made the executive decision to kiss her floor. Gravity was not kind, Moon-Man thought as her head bounced once before staying motionless.

The cold tile had reminded her of the pain she had endured, however long ago, and Moon-Man brought her legs to her chest, quietly laying on the floor. She fought futilely with the images in her head, and the greatly detailed memories of pain. Realizing that there was little more she could do but continue to live on the ground and wait, she paused in her mental agony.

Yet warmth on her back kept her company through the trial, and after an hour or two, she was able to think through the pain, and stitch together what had happened after the great hurt had been inflicted.

She closed her eyes, trying to imitate the last few memories she had before it went all blank. She was in the room, the last of her strength sapped, when Catherine had made her presence public. Catherine had shot one of her captors, but what had happened to the other Octarian?

Moon-Man felt her hand wander towards her chin, then she remembered.

Moon-Man had happened to the other Octarian, she realized and began to calmly – and quickly- head to her toilet.

The act of eating was a mistake, Moon-Man thought as she flushed the contents of her stomach with the help of the waste disposal unit. She then went and brushed her teeth for a solid ten minutes, hoping the soap would somehow rinse away the memory of taking a bite out of a living creature's neck.

She didn't even remember making the choice. Catherine would have been able to take them both, but when the gun fire had started, Moon-Man had jumped into action with the last of her strength. She had ripped the throat out of a creature not dissimilar from her, with her bare teeth no less. That thought of killing at all pained her greatly long ago, to the point of hunting down someone who would even attempt such a cruel thing. What was she then, Moon-Man found herself asking.

The worst part of it, she realized, was that she felt nothing except disgust that such flesh had entered her mouth. When Moon-Man had killed another living thing, those thoughts of sympathy or empathy were not even a factor during the few seconds it took to take a life.

Moon-Man tried to continue the chain of thoughts that would lead to the conclusion that she was a bad person, but couldn't justify it. She decided to wait to see how the others would react to the revelation she was no better than the person she had hated not too long ago.

Unarmed, Moon-Man walked out of her apartment's door, finding it disturbingly bright in the hallway, illuminating the forms of two sleeping Inklings outside.

Bojable was slumped against a door that lead to a similar apartment like Moon-Man's, while Catherine as laying across from him, next to her own door.

Well that explained how she ended up here, Moon-Man thought. She assumed Bojable had carried her here, remembering that Bojable might have been mentally weaker than most kids, made up for it in stubborn kindness, and occasionally natural strength.

Moon-Man saw her weapon around Catherine, and had softly re-equipped herself, feeling the familiar worn grip of her .96. Moon-Man had thought it lost when she had been dragged through the city, semi-conscious, but lucky for her, Catherine had picked it up somewhere.

Going back inside to do an equipment check, she left Bojable and Catherine in the hallway, not wanting to disturb her two saviors.

Moon-Man realized that the safety lock of her gun was missing completely, and figured it must have broken off during her last stand in the dirt pit. This didn't stop the gun from working, in fact, it made it easier to use, she realized. It definitely wouldn't make it through the weapons inspection of any Turf Battles, but it would still function as her primary weapon. If only she could find a way to activate the constant Ink regeneration of the Ink canister.

Squeezing the trigger several times showed that her weapon still worked, spurting a mist of blue onto her hand. All she was missing now were her sun-glasses, but she had spares all around her apartment, so she wasn't quite worried about them currently.

That left her with few needs to be met, as she was no longer hungry and sufficiently armed and her injuries relatively healed, she could act. The problem, she found was that she had no idea what to do. She rubbed her face several times, trying to solve the puzzle of Infy's master plan.

What was the next step? The self-proclaimed mutant had said they were about to start, and Marauder wouldn't want to miss it for the world. What did that mean? Marauder's motivation ended at leaving the city, if she remembered right. Did that mean they were going to do something towards the outer wall which kept the squid-kids inside Inkopolis?

She thought back to when she looted Marauder's apartment, thinking she had missed something, but the only thing she couldn't have found was his…phone. She looked at the three cellular devices that were sitting idly on the stack of boxes.

Moon-Man rushed to the handheld objects and swiped the touch screen several times. However, the kids who had owned them were not stupid, it seemed, as they had their electronic locks enabled.

Good thing she knew a certain Jellyfish, Moon-Man thought as she pocketed the three phones and got ready to leave her apartment. Slamming the door on the way out, she heard Bojable and Catherine jump awake at the loud noise.

"Wha? Moon-Man?" Catherine shouted, not being able to contain herself.

"Moon-Man, are you alright?" Bojable asked, gaining his footing and followed her closely.

She said nothing however, making her way down a floor towards the Jellyfish family's apartment, getting several questions asked by the two Inklings behind her. Knocking several times on the front door, the two followers eventually fell silent. After a slight delay, Moon-Man heard the lock fumble on the other side, and a large blue head popped out.

Jones looked at her with his wide googly eyes, seemingly surprised. "Moon-Male!" He shouted in his almost correct speech.

"Hey Jones. I need a favor." Moon-Man said, looking at the silent exchange between Jones's eyes and Catherine's.

"Much debt you accumulate. Come in, come in." He said, ushering them into his home. Normally this was forbidden by the city's general rules of not harboring squids by other species, but Jones apparently didn't care.

The apartment was almost a complete copy as Ross's, except severely more furnished. Trying not to let her eyes wander too much, she followed Jones to the fourth room, coming into a home office. Large metal boxes sat on top of two wooden desks, connected to small televisions. Moon-Man had never seen such a contraption before, she briefly wondered what it was.

"What need?" Jones inquired, closing the door behind the three squids. Moon-Man fished the three phones out of her coat's pocket.

"Can you unlock these?" Moon-Man asked, having them taken from her hands by two appendages as soon as she showed them. Jones brought them closely to his face, looking intently over the two devices that were not of squid design. She watched the expert work briefly, connecting the Squid shaped phone to his metal box. Barely looking at his television, Moon-Man watched the large Jellyfish plant himself in his chair, and felt Catherine and Bojable press against her back so they could all see over his spherical head. The screen showed many symbols that were alien to Moon-Man, but seemed to mean little to the adult. Eventually he brought up several pictures.

This was indeed Marauder's phone. As they went through the phone's images. The first few were team photos of the same four squid kids. However, it soon changed drastically, a picture showing the familiar water gun, and then a building she didn't recognize. Jones slowly changed pictures, staring intently at his screen, these photographs bringing him to full attention.

"Jones?" Moon-Man asked, as he feverishly shifted through the electronic album. More pictures of the same boxy building, except from different angles. Moon-Man looked at them closely as well. What was Marauder doing taking pictures of a single building?

The four of them then saw the large metal cables from the photos, leading up onto familiar electricity converters they saw everywhere around the city.

"Li employed there." Jones said in a hushed whisper.

Jones's appendages were not idle as he scrolled through Marauder's phone. He had managed to unlock the Octo-Phone, which started to vibrate in his noodle arm. Jones passed it off to Moon-Man, being unable to decipher the lettering.

Moon-Man however, had better luck, as the language seemed almost identical to her native alphabet. The contact of 'Boss' had been sending several messages, asking where they were or if they had disposed of Moon-Man yet. Without response however, the latest message only said one word.

"Tonight." Moon-Man said, repeating the singular message.

Three sets of worried eyes bore into her from all directions.

.

.

Editor's Notes: Focus on pain, not quantum physics.


	17. A3: Part Two

_**Moon-Man Chronicles 2: Electric Bongoboo.**_

 _ **Part 2: Role Call.**_

Jones's apartment was not meant to have such a number of guests.

Ross looked about at the number of squids all milling idly in the room, whispering to themselves quietly. Bojable, Catherine and Jones were standing around the table putting down large printed pictures.

She had been called by Catherine during the afternoon, and had been told to come back to the apartment building. Her roommates had followed her, sensing something was wrong, Joseph still upset about her dodging the questions he had been asking all morning.

Ross just didn't know how to explain how she had basically dragged a half dead neighbor back to the apartment all in the previous night. She didn't want them to know that she had seen someone die last night, and then have information dropped about news from a month ago. Ross was generally upset, she realized.

When the group had gotten back to the apartment's entrance, Catherine was waiting for them, and said nothing about the extra additions Ross had brought. Catherine had lead them up four floors, into the Jellyfish's apartment. She briefly wondered why no alarms were going off, telling them to get out of the domestic area.

It was barely two in the afternoon, meaning all kids had to be out of their residences, and out shooting each other or being active. Just this morning, Ross had tried to sleep in through curfew, but the screech that seemingly came from her walls forced her outside.

However, the only noise coming from the Jellyfish family's home, was coming from Tome who was complaining about how he had been left out of everything.

Seemingly satisfied that everyone who would show up, had shown up, Jones locked his front door and went into a back room, bringing out more images. Tome had taken a seat by Moon-Man, who was leaning heavily against a wall even while sitting down.

Ross briefly wondered if the older girl should even be up right now, but kept silent. She knew enough not to question Moon-Man's inner strength.

When the Jellyfish brought the large photographs, Ross and her roommates had circled around the table to get a better look. Almost all of the pictures were of the same building from different angles, including one which looked like a floor plan.

"What is this?" Joseph asked, picking up one of the pictures, and looking at the older kids.

Catherine had eyeballed Ross briefly, her eyes beckoning the question of how much she had told them. Sensing this, Ross had shook her head to signal that she had told them nothing of the previous night.

"This," Catherine started, "Is a power station, which distributes Inkopolis' electricity." Staring at each of the fresh eyes, showing the importance of the statement.

"What? Why do you have them?" Chad asked, voice wavering slightly.

"What happened last night?" Joseph more demanded than asked.

Silence took the room like a storm, Jones shifting uncomfortably. To Ross's knowledge, only three people were privy to that information, and only one to the days before yesterday. All eyes turned to Moon-Man, who was seemingly ignorant of the gazes.

Catherine took the floor once more, speaking up.

"Moon-Man had been missing, we asked the Jones family for a favor in helping us track her down. To skip over several things, these pictures were on a phone from a person that vanished over a month ago."

"Whoa, hold up. That's not answering anything. What happened last night?!" Joseph said, increasingly annoyed at the fact that his questions had been avoided since last night.

"Joseph, just be glad you weren't there." Ross found herself saying. Her mind wandering to the image she had been trying to bury. She felt her eyes harden, seemingly translating the message to Joseph.

"The guy who vanished," Bojable interjected, "Was someone who did many bad things. We had thought his phone lost until today, when Jones opened it a few minutes ago."

"Okay, so this bad guy has pictures of a building." Chad said, putting down one of the images that he was looking at, "Why is it important now if he's gone?"

"Because," Moon-Man's voice gravely said, "Who we got the phone off of, have a thing for killing Inklings."

"You don't mean…" Pia started, apparently knowing about last month's deaths.

"Wait, who are the ones who have a thing for killing?" Chad asked, showing that he apparently didn't have knowledge of last month's deaths.

Joseph looked at Ross, asking questions unsaid. Ross just shook her head slightly, hinting he should stay silent for now. If nothing else she had learned about the older kids, is they were nothing if not dramatic.

"His name was Marauder," Bojable said.

"And, he was working with a species you might have heard of." Catherine said, finishing with the word "Octarians."

Tome immediately shouted "Inconceivable!" Getting the attention of the entire room.

"Octarians? They're made up. They are a rumor from when this city was first built! You can't honestly expect me to believe that a fictional race of almost squid-kids who only want our end to actually exist. Where's the proof?" Tome asked, getting silence from everyone.

He eventually turned to even Moon-Man, who had simply handed him something.

"What is this?" Tome said, looking at one of the phones Ross had watched Catherine take last night.

"Go through the camera function." Moon-Man suggested.

All eyes watched Tome fall silent as he started fingering the functions on its touch pad. He then sat down, silenced by the undeniable 'proof' he was seeing.

"Octarians are real?" Joseph asked, finding himself in Tome's shoes.

"It's not that hard to believe." Catherine mumbled.

"It is assumed that tonight, the Octarians will be doing something to this power station." Bojable said, summing up.

"Why tonight?" Chad asked.

"I don't know, maybe Moon-Man spooked them, and they're trying to rush."

"No." Moon-Man stated, once again gaining the attention from everyone. "Tonight's a new moon. If they take side paths and alleyways, they'll be virtually undetected."

After a pause of everyone thinking on this new fact, several people asked the similar question of "What do we do about it?"

Moon-Man had fallen suspiciously silent at the new question.

Everyone turned their eyes to their undeclared leader.

Silence.

More silence.

"Moon-Man?" Catherine asked in a whisper.

"I don't know!" She shouted desperately.

This made Ross take a step back, the image of the undefeatable Moon-Man being shattered.

"Who are we kidding?" Moon-Man asked, weakly standing. "We're in over our heads. Why don't we let the adults handle it?"

Bojable, Catherine, and Tome all gave a similar look of disbelief. This was apparently a huge about face from Moon-Man's normal attitude.

"You, saying this?" Tome asked, he turned to Catherine and asked her "What happened last night?!"

Catherine apparently didn't want to spill, so Moon-Man took the initiative.

"They stabbed me Tome." She said, moving her coat, and showing her some of the skin that had been scarred.

"They took a rod, and punctured my Ink gland, then for two days, they cut into me. With fishing hooks. With knives. With shards of glass. They beat me with metal pipes, and gouged my eyes so I couldn't see." She said, gaining ground.

"We aren't messing with angry children, Tome. We're talking about the very real life and death situations that I had been protecting you idiots from. I died last night Tome. I felt my heart stop pumping, since there was nothing to pump! The only reason I'm not dead right now is because Catherine and Bojable showed up."

What?

"What?" Catherine asked.

"What, what?" Moon-Man responded.

"Bojable wasn't there. Don't remember?"

"Obviously not. I could have sworn he was there."

"No, I only got there at the end." Bojable stated.

"Then who carried me through the city?" Moon-Man wondered, her disgusted eyes looking towards Tome.

"I did." Ross found herself saying, gaining the silence of the room.

She felt many emotions, anger being one of the blinding ones. Slight jealousy, followed by depression.

"I watched you… Tear the throat out of that creature." Ross said, anger and sadness fueling her speech. "I watched you die. I watched Catherine barely bring you back. Do you not remember at all? You said our names. My name. You're the one who told us to take their phones. You talked to me as I became the only thing that enabled you to walk. How could you forget?"

"Ross, I," Moon-Man tried to say something, but Ross cut her off.

"No. I only have respect for you. Even when you told me that I meant nothing to you. Even when you hurt my feelings, I got over it and came to help. You might have no respect for me at all and I may be some stupid kid, but right now I can overlook that. I don't even care that you don't remember me dragging you through the black streets. What I can't overlook, is you giving up now. You survived what no one else here would have, and have apparently single handedly went looking for the 'Mastermind' behind Marauder. Did you even find him?" Ross said in a single breath, feeling her lungs and eyes burn. Ross briefly wondered if she had any idea of where she was going with this tirade, grasping at any straws she could remember from the start of last night. Luckily she remembered the crazy wall.

"Yes," Moon-Man said after a small time. "I did."

"Are you okay with giving up then? You know where he's going to be! How could you want to quit now that you're so close to bringing the people who killed to justice? Two inklings are dead, and you almost joined them because of these people! Are you going to let someone else die just because you got hurt?!" Ross said, increasingly becoming louder and louder.

"No!" Moon-Man said, anger filling her denial.

Everyone looked slightly relieved at the statement she had made.

Moon-Man smiled sadly, "No. No I guess I'm not. Okay Ross."

Ross, still heated by the moment couldn't really understand.

"Okay! Okay. Okay what?"

"We've got a mission to plan." Moon-Man said, looking at each and everyone in the room.

.

.

Editor's Notes: file it with the agency


	18. A3: Part Three

_**Moon-Mang Chranicales Two: This bit is getting old.**_

 _ **Part Ten: Preparation.**_

They had split up into four teams of two, to get through their to-do lists in the four hour time limit the quickest.

Each squid had several objectives they needed to get through, and it was up to Moon-Man to obtain higher tier weapons for the lower level kids, as the rest of the group was getting their ink color changed to blue.

Ross had come with her, as her Ink had managed match Moon-Man's. Moon-Man hadn't vocally complained at this development, and mumbled how if someone had been able to carry another Inkling for a few hours, they could carry all the guns she was buying for a few minutes. Moon-Man had to begrudgingly admit that Ross had proved useful even if most of it happened by chance, rather than by her own merit.

The crab thing had refused to sell Moon-Man the same weapon twice, so she ended up getting the two variants of the E-liter, for whomever they were going to assign for charger duty. She felt rather disgusted in herself for making these purchases, and handed the unpackaged weapons to Ross. Moon-Man watched Ross with mild amusement as she struggled with the large boxes, which contained the weapon, and basic ink bottle with a cloth tether.

Moon-Man had decided that they would break off into two squads, of Moon-Man, Tome, Ross, and Joseph, being in the first one, while Catherine and Bojable would pair up with Chad and Pia. That way they could split up responsibility for two shooters, a charger and a roller, per squad. Joseph had luckily volunteered for Moon-Man's team for the Charger position, as he had some experience.

Now that the chargers were bought, that only left the shooters Pia and Ross needed. Moon-Man decided to get Ross a fast short range weapon, and Pia a medium range, unable to decide on any in particular, she decided to buy one of each, justifying the purchase by needing the extra Ink Canisters.

After purchasing several empty sub weapons, such as every single bomb type, and some disruptors, Moon-Man had led the stumblingly Ross out of the arms seller's store, and out into the open plaza.

Moon-Man and Ross had started to make their way to the train station to head back home, when she was stopped abruptly by a person's body. She found herself floored, as her knee had quit out on her as soon as the blow was dealt.

"Moon-Man?" Ross asked, coming to a halt as she seemingly sensed the physical exchange between Moon-Man and some blind pedestrian.

"Moon-Man?" An Inkling with purple tentacles asked with a strangely familiar voice. She fixed her sunglasses, and saw an Aero-spray attached to the boy's hip. When she looked up at his face, she couldn't place it immediately.

The boy fixed his hat, and offered her a hand. Moon-Man hesitantly took it, pulling herself up and faced the boy eye to eye. Her apparent confusion was plastered on her face it seemed, as he took note to it.

"Ah, you probably don't remember me, but we met about a month ago. By the vending machines? I saw you at the tower shoot out too." He said, jogging Moon-Man's hazy memory.

"Oh yeah. How's it going," She paused, not sure if he had ever introduced himself.

"Ah, I'm Dad. Need help there?" Dad asked, looking over Moon-Man's shoulder at the struggling Ross.

"Uh, No. We're good." Moon-Man answered.

"Oh. Okay. Are you sure? I'm heading to the train station as well, I don't mind." Dad said, after a thought. He had even turned around before coming right back to Moon-Man.

Ross conveniently lost her footing, and lost some of the boxes that she was stacking in her arms. They clattered to the ground, making the awkward situation more so. Dad had helped himself to picking up several of the boxes under each of his arms. Ross thanked him greatly introducing herself as well. The Inkling boy nodded in response, and they made their way towards the train stop.

"So, I heard you've rejoined the game scene." Dad said after a while of small talk. Moon-Man had to give him credit for beating around the figurative bush.

"Is this your pitch?" Moon-Man asked, ignoring the figurative bush completely.

"Nah, just curious." Dad said, easily enough.

"Curious about what?" Moon-Man asked, definitely fishing for information.

Dad hummed thoughtfully as they made their way up the stairs that lead to the train platform.

"How about where you got your coat?" Dad asked.

"Am I being interviewed?" Moon-Man chortled, this random encounter was getting stranger by the second.

"Well I mean, everyone wants a coat like it. You gotta' admit it's pretty sick." Dad said.

"Yeah, it is pretty sick. However, this was from my actual dad, Dad." Moon-Man stated, hard pressed to keep her smile hidden.

"Oh I see. That's a shame." He said, his own grin plastered on his face.

"Why's that?" She found herself asking.

"Because I was wanting to steal your style. Anyone who rocks the leather gets like, fifty levels of freshness." Dad said, stating actual fact.

"This is true," Moon-Man nodded sagely. "However, I don't think I can help you."

"That's why it's a shame! Imagine me in a leather coat, people would be blinded you know. I did the math." He said cheerfully, watching the metal transport pull into the station.

"Did you?" Moon-Man asked, in mock disbelief.

"It's true. Speaking of numbers, can I get yours?" Dad asked, locking eyes through Moon-Man's eye glasses.

Moon-Man blinked somewhat surprised. Then the thought registered. She hadn't even seen where that was going. Moon-Man normally would have noticed a mile away, but her smooth operator status was apparently needing a reinstatement.

"I mean- If that's okay. You obviously don't if you don't want too." Dad said, filling in the silence that Moon-Man was leaving as she was thinking.

"No, uh. Hang on." Moon-Man said, checking her several empty pockets, feeling her weapon slap the side of her leg. She heard the train pull to a stop behind her when Ross poked her side. "Ross, do you know where my phone is?"

"You uh… Broke it last night." Ross said, gaining the ire of both Dad and Moon-Man.

"I did what?" Moon-Man asked.

"Catherine found it snapped in half…" Ross said, slowly backing into the train to make an escape.

Moon-Man followed after her, placing her hands on the lesser girl's shoulders.

"Hang on, gimme a sec." Dad said, making Moon-Man turn around to carry the boxes.

She watched him pull out a writing utensil and write the ten digit number on the top box she was now holding.

He then stepped back as the metal doors hissed closed. Moon-Man looking confused, and shouted through the glass.

"Weren't you getting on?"

"I lied! Nice meeting you Ross!" Dad shouted back as the train's wheels started turning. He stood stationary as the cabin shifted forwards, bringing his thumb and pinky to the side of his head, signaling for her to call him.

Moon-Man felt a half smile show on her face before waving as best she could to the strange boy as she was burdened with the packaged weaponry.

"That Ross, was about a six out of ten on the smooth scale." Moon-Man stated, continuing to look out the door's window.

"Smooth? What do you mean?" Ross said, ignorant of the ways of being slightly older.

"Eh, never mind." She said, replaying the entire meeting in her head to see if she was blind, or just not thinking right. Moon-Man prided herself on her observation, she told herself.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful, they had to make a detour on their street, going to a local test firing area, where one could shoot at stationary blown up balloons. The significance of the area being, it was the only place where the Ink Canisters behaved like they were in a Turf Battle.

Ross unpacked each weapon, putting together the harness and bottle set, as Moon-Man test fired the weapons. Moon-Man didn't know how the weapons knew who was doing the firing, but inside these protected zones, Ross couldn't even force the trigger to work.

Outside the Turf zones, the lock seemingly forgot itself, letting Ross fire all of the weapons as if they were her own. Moon-Man shrugged, and ripped the cardboard that held Dad's supposed phone number, pocketing it.

Ross and Moon-Man disposed of the rest of the trash, including the instruction manuals asking the hypothetical question if anyone ever looked at those small booklets. They both shared a small laugh before heading back to the apartment complex, each arm holding several shooters slung to their arms, and their backs holding the matching filled Ink Bottles.

They found half their members already getting set inside of the Jellyfish's apartment. Catherine and Tome having stopped by their own home to get extra munition bottles. Moon-Man had specifically instructed them in that matter, as to not make the same mistake of not bringing enough ammunition to the fight.

Moon-Man dumped the weapons she had brought, and went into her room to dump the cardboard and grab some duct tape from her one of her junk drawers.

Having finished grabbing the stuff, she made her way back down to Jones apartment, who had returned with a very awake Tommy, and several plastic bags. Inside of them were prepackaged communicator sets, which would give them a basic communication network.

Moon-Man realized she was going broke very quickly, with all these purchases that she was paying out of pocket for.

She sighed as she rocked back in a chair, deciding to get some sleep as they waited for the last of the group.

.

.

Editor's Notes: The cost of preparation, now in snails, later, in blood.


	19. A3: Part Four

_**Moon-Man Chronicle Two: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Four: Blue One, Blue Two.**_

The entire group had decided to let Moon-Man sleep.

Once Ross had returned, the Eight of the group had filtered in and out the Jellyfish's apartment to retrieve random odds and ends, leaving the ones who stayed to start modifying their gear, or rest while they could. But as the sun started to set, they had woke the sleeping leader, and all came together to go through the plan one last time.

Moon-Man had unclipped a sling from one of the unused shooters and wrapped it around her waist, making an impromptu belt. She looked up at Jones who had handed her a small radio that's wire lead to a small necklace. Moon-Man apparently knowing what this device was, hooked the radio to the new belt, and put the choker around her neck, clipping it together, and putting a part of it into her ear. Ross didn't know exactly what the purpose this was, but saw all the older kids awkwardly using similar things.

Moon-Man nodded her thanks, and whispered something to no one while holding her throat. She thought she mouthed the words "Mike Check." Begging the question, who Mike was.

Bojable, Catherine, and Tome responded saying the same thing, and copying Moon-Man's motions. Ross, oblivious of the device's function, she assumed it was something to do with their radios placed on their waists.

"Are we getting one?" Chad asked, simply jealous of the technological advantage the older kids had.

"Too Pricey. Could only afford four." Jones said, going around Tome's back and fiddling with the last radio. Ross couldn't help but feel glad they had a tech expert, not to mention an adult helping them on this.

Jones had called his wife during the preparation time. He had warned her of the supposed threat of impending attack. She had told him that they had some form of security, but she did voice her concerns. Ross couldn't help but notice that Jones had only hinted at their arrival. Maybe it was a good thing that he wasn't outright telling her that they were coming, lest they break some rule amongst the other species' laws for this city.

"Alright boys and girls. Final weapons and gear checks. We move in thirty. Catherine, are we synched?" Moon-Man said, seemingly rejuvenated from the nap.

"We should be. These watches were a set you know." Catherine said, making a small mist come out of her empty shooter.

Ross watched Moon-Man look over the group of black dressed Inklings. Each of them had picked attire that would blend in the night for maximum camouflage. Normally they would choose their attire for the small perks in the Turf Battles, but now they had to think differently.

"Battle buddies, get together. Have them check your gear. Ross, c'mere." Their leader said, beckoning her presence. Hating to disappoint she moved through the packed apartment, coming face to face with the taller girl.

Ross was then moved forcefully, and had Moon-Man tug at her two harnesses that had been uncomfortable to put together. However, this let her carry two Ink Bottles- all she had to do was switch the rubber tube that led to her new Tentatek. Moon-Man then went over her weapon, checking to see if they had removed the safety lock, which they had all done with the help of a very useful screw driver.

Then it was up to Ross to check Moon-Man's weird contraption. Their squad leader had decided to get creative, and had duct taped four Ink Canisters together after removing the two inner bottle's harnesses, creating a weird half strap at each end of the bottle device. Ross thought it would fall apart at the lightest touch, but as she put her back into the tugging motion, she found it almost immovable. Granted, it would probably be harder to take off than Ross's two separate Ink Canisters, but Moon-Man had justified it with being able to haul around more munition.

Tome and Bojable were half clipped with about eight bottles each, meant to transport the spares for the shooters. That way, the rollers would just play rear guard for the two squads, only having to fight if something got too close and help resupply anyone who had managed to go through their own Ink supply.

"Everyone's guns work?" The girl next to her asked, getting confirmation from everyone in the room. "If they do, Ink up. Just don't shoot Jones or Tommy by accident. Cool. Jones, are you able to contact us through these things?" Asking about the radios undoubtedly.

"Yes, yes. I will be doing checks now." The lumbering jellyfish said, bringing Tommy into his home office, as to not play with any of the now live Ink guns.

"Alright, now for the last bit. Squaddies, form up on your squad leaders." Moon-Man said, trying to split the room, but only finding stares.

"Tome, Joseph. Come here. Everyone else go to Catherine." Moon-Man clarified, after a disturbingly long sigh, physically keeping Ross near her by holding onto her Ink harness.

"Catherine, Pia, you're battle buddies. Bojable, Chad, you're battle buddies. Tome, Joseph, you're battle buddies. Ross, you're with me. Everyone got your battle buddy? Don't leave your battle buddy. Last thing before we depart." Moon-Man said, taking off her sunglasses, squinting at the lit room, and gathering her thoughts before continuing.

"We don't know if we're going to find any other Inklings there, or squids. That means, we're going to wait and watch before anything happens. If there are other squids there, and they have it under control, we scrub the mission, go home, and call it a night. If there are other squids there and we engage the enemy, don't say each other names, or name drop in general."

Moon-Man paused, to make sure the severity of the situation got through to each and every one of them.

"So, from now on, my Squad is Blue One. Catherine's is Blue Two. You need one of us, call our roles. Say, if you need to talk to Bojable, or name him in your sentence, he's Blue Two Roller. Ross is Blue One Shooter. Catherine is Blue Two Leader. Everyone got it? We don't want anyone to know we've been here after this."

"I think I may be missing the point." Joseph asked, shouldering his long barrel.

"Okay. Why?" Moon-Man asked.

"Why don't we want people to know we helped save the city?" Joseph asked, raising a fair point.

"Probably if we fail or something." Chad said, expecting the worst.

"Well, not just covering our butts if we fail, but also covering our personal lives. Should we become identified, or worse, known, it will become impossible to separate yourself from this one moment. We also don't know what our own government will do." Moon-Man said, explaining how the risk of notoriety was usually a bad one.

"I'm just going to stop arguing, since no one knows what our government will do at any point in time, like, ever." Joseph said, stepping down from the figurative soap box.

"Cool. So, to sum things up, stick with your battle buddy, call them by their role instead of by name. Also, if someone is splatted, either back them up till they recover, or get them into cover. Do not let them get taken." Moon-Man said, meeting everyone's eyes, one person at a time.

Everyone nodded their affirmation.

"Good. Let's move. Jones!" Moon-Man shouted, heading for the door.

"Yes?"

"Mic Test!"

"R-Roger!"

Who was Roger? Ross thought briefly, before following Moon-Man out of the apartment's door, the rest of the two squads behind her.

Ross felt the bombs she was packing loosely slap her leg as they went down the staircase in single file. They had halted at the back exit, as Moon-Man checked her city map one last time, memorizing the back alley route they were going to take.

It was like a happier version of last night's rapid rescue of Moon-Man, Ross realized as they moved through the night. Instead of just a tired Catherine as company, she had all known associates and friends. It was quite the upgrade, she thought with a smile.

Moon-Man lead them expertly through the back alleys, knowing it would take almost an hour of marching to get where they needed to go. Luckily, they were heading away from the center of the city, and the power station was fairly close to the coast, meaning it would be unlikely they would run into anyone.

Moving silently, they had stopped very briefly when they came upon a few various creature's walking back home. Both squads went very quiet, but eventually the meandering group had passed, leaving both Blue One, and Blue Two to proceed.

"We should be nearing the first check point." Moon-Man whispered, holding her hands on her throat.

This message seemed to go through the line quickly, and they came to a chain link fence, with barbed wire on the top. There was a much more secure looking gate ahead, but as they peaked into the small cubby hole where a guard should have been, all they found was an empty room with the electronics blacked out.

Moon-Man reached through the window with her gun, and flipped a switch. This action seemingly made the small gate open without any fuss.

As they stepped through the gate, they started to hear familiar pocking sounds of exchanging gun fire. Moon-Man halted, seemingly stopping and holding a hand in the air, signaling them to stop.

"We hear you Jones. We can hear the fighting as well. Tell Li to hide, we'll be there shortly." Blue One Leader said, turning to face everyone.

"Get in your groups, Blue Two, break right, Blue One break left. Li says the fighting just started. We're going to see what the situation is before engaging. Understood?"

"Understood." A semi-unison chorus of hesitant voices said.

"Alright. Break!" Moon-Man said, trotting off with her weapon raised.

Ross followed, the gun resting lightly in her shoulder as she brought it to bare. Thoughts of feeling like a professional soldier filled her with pride as she followed Moon-Man into the increasing dark.

.

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Editor's Notes: Combat pace, people. You're on point, Rook.


	20. A3: Part Five

_**Moon-Man Chronicle Two: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Five: Area of Operation.**_

Moon-Man couldn't help but feel apprehensive, but she forced herself onwards.

Her knees still throbbed with pain but had barely slowed her down. Not wanting to let anyone down however, made her lead with a hesitant conviction.

As the two squads moved into the compound, they lengthened the distance between each other, forming a very loose line formation. Moon-Man was glad everyone was moving at her careful pace even if it might have been coincidence.

They had gotten a very brief layout of the complex hours prior. The power station was built near the coastal wall, allowing sea water to pour in to do something. Moon-Man wasn't exactly knowledgeable how the power stations worked, and Jones didn't seem up to explaining the workings of the building.

Two roads led into the facility, blocked by an outer chain link fence, and two check points, one being the South, and the other being the East. These roads had now ended, leading into a large square of empty terrain, excluding the few metal boxes with wires leading towards the main building.

Moon-Man's squads had entered through the southern check point, and as they covered the empty ground, they began to hear the much louder trading of automatic ink weapons. Blue One and Blue Two began to see the large concrete rectangular prism that was the actual power station. Bright flood lights were poised on the roof, shining brightly into the ground below. Metal tubes lead from the structure and into the sea from all sides. Another chain link fence guarded the gate which lead into the building proper.

Light poles stationed around the outer defense shined a very daunting scene. A sea of familiar purple was painted all along the ground, with dozens of strange creatures increasing the spread and converging to focus fire on moving figures in the darkness. Moon-Man peered into the darkness as they slowed their pace considerably, trying to get a better look at the forces fighting each other.

Moon-Man put a thumb to the activating button on her throat mic, calling for a general halt from both squads. She was still trying to figure out what sort of creature she was looking at before trying to find out the weakness of their formation.

They were laughably short, with tiny legs that were akin to straws. The purple spouting creatures had a single tentacle, which went from the whole of their bodies. The tentacle creatures seemingly had no arms either, and used their tripod metal walkers to raise themselves from the ground and fire semiautomatic ink globs from a cannon. Some of these walkers had metal shields built in front of them. Leading these single tentacle troopers were similar ones, who had double the amount of tentacles, and seemingly weapons with increased fire rate. Supporting this force were weird creatures with propellers attached to their heads, dropping splat bombs down on the building.

They were unmistakably Octarians, Moon-Man realized, but their forms were… Twisted, compared to the twins she had first fought. Their weak forms supported by the metal weapons they were attached to. Unlike the twins who had been almost indistinguishable from another Inkling.

Moon-Man watched them fire upon the lime green figures, weaving along the fence, desperately trying to repel the invading force. However, they were severely outnumbered by the red fleshed Octarians and were quickly losing ground by not being able to fight off the vast number.

"Blue One Leader, what's the call?" Catherine's disembodied voice asked. Moon-Man looked in the general direction of the Inkling.

Moon-Man eyeballed the number of enemies, and assumed there were at least three score, including the sortied bombers. Running several plans in her head, she decided against a straight charge attack, and whispered to Catherine to follow a pipe and sneak up on the attackers from the east flank. Without any deliberation or discussion, Moon-Man watched the shadows of Blue Two crouch against the large metal piping, and begin to close the distance on the Octarians.

Blue One followed Moon-Man as she made a similar hurried crouch walk along the same pipe, going in the opposite direction and heading towards the coast. Moon-Man tried keep an eye on the ongoing battle, and another on the place she was heading, eventually halting dangerously close to discovery from the enemy's rear guard.

After a short wait, Catherine had chimed in.

"In position." Blue Two Leader whispered, most likely in a similar situation Moon-Man herself was in.

"On my mark." Moon-Man breathed, raising her head slightly above the cover she was behind. Seeing the entirety of the Octarian's force concentrating fire on the lime resistance. Moon-Man gestured for Ross and Tome to get grenades, and Joseph began charging his weapon at a target in his range.

"Mark!" She shouted, vaulting over the wall and tossing her grenades into a pack of the firing reserve troopers. Several of the creatures saw the sub weapon land amongst themselves, and turned to face the newly emerged threat, although far too slow of a reaction time.

Blue ink exploded from the device, splattering amongst the throng of enemies, claiming several smaller explosions. With the second bomb thrown, Moon-Man shouldered her Gal.96, firing bursts and hearing Ross starting to fire indiscriminately at the undefended and surprised Octarians. Joseph had started to clear Moon-Man's left flank, so she focused her fire on the foes in front of her.

She felt the change of the battlefield very quickly. Blue One had picked off the Octarians that had formed the entire west flank in seconds. A dozen or so defeated without having any time to respond. The main pack of shielded troopers and bombers were seemingly unaware of the new threats that Blue One was posing, and simply continued their assault from the front and the air.

However, some of the fodder had noticed their engagement, and started to regroup, firing upon Moon-Man and Ross in their methodical firing patterns. Their tripod legs closing the gap between them much slower than Moon-Man could have done in seconds by walking. The idea of this force somehow catching this facility by surprise seemed ludicrous.

The purple the Octarians had been standing on was quickly becoming blue. Some of the outer troopers who didn't explode from the initial fire, seemed to sink into the ground as the purple underneath them turned into a blue marsh. These newly mired foes continued to fire as they struggled to get back to their friendly color, making very easy targets that were picked off after seconds.

Slowing only to switch Ink bottles, Ross had provided a decent distraction, throwing her own ink bombs, having a few seconds to line up the perfect throw. The result was devastating, and almost immediate. However, in their fervor, Moon-Man and Ross had left behind Joseph and Tome, who were cleaning up the remnants they had left in their wake.

Moon-Man had finished reloading, and looked at a floating wall of purple. These globs began to rain down upon both she and Ross. Some of the two headed tentacles had formed a defensive wall, and a firing line. Some of the bombers had even diverted to throw the easily dodged, but turf controlling bombs on top of Moon-Man's squad. This new line of defense had now covered the main Octarians force.

Moon-Man could see, while pulling back, a similar development had formed on the north eastern flank of the Octarians line. In fact, Moon-Man couldn't see any Octarians outside the wall of ink and metal she was facing currently. In the few minutes they had engaged, nearly half of the original force was all that was left.

Even the two lime Inklings had begun to find weakness in this wall, adding to the purple and blue mess that had stained the pavement. The Octarians were now surrounded, but had a seemingly limitless supply of munition, and as the shielded walkers were absorbing her own Ink shots, Moon-Man wondered how long this battle would last.

The ten Inklings ducked and dived, trying to pick off any Octarians that showed obvious weakness, but as they pushed the now surrounded force together, it became harder and harder to penetrate the defensive shield wall. Joseph, and from what Moon-Man could see, Chad had begun to focus their fire on bringing the bombers down, quickly eliminating the hovering creatures.

The battle was slowly becoming a grind that was lasting several minutes. Moon-Man had begun to worry when Ross had went down, her kid form exploding in a massive surge of purple at one point, for daring to get close enough to throw a Ink bomb. One of the twin-tentacle leaders had unleashed a massive barrage of purple, dropping her quickly. Filled with slight panic, Moon-Man had rushed to support the downed squid, lest the Octarians try to take advantage of the girl's damaged state.

She had taken a knee behind the motionless squid form, firing several times at any of the different creatures. Not wanting to move, she grabbed one of the tentacles of Ross, and fired her Gal with a single hand. However, this made her a slow target, and relatively easy one, she saw too late.

She thought herself splatted when Tome had shown up, taking the shots but ignoring the damage. He had surprisingly rushed to Moon-Man's side, Joseph not far behind, and jumped to unleash the Golden Dynamo. The weapon clacked against the inked pavement as it unleashed a salvo of blue death. The payload catapulting over the heads of the shield wall, and landing amongst the back of the line Blue Two was against. Moon-Man heard the calls pain as a damage report from the Octarian's force.

Joseph had grabbed Ross's other tentacle, making her easier to drag back out of imminent range from the purple menace, and into the blue squid turf. Tome had swung several more times, before deciding to turn into a squid and high tail it back to the distance safety where Moon-Man and Joseph were reloading.

"Roller, supply me." Joseph demanded, pulling out the rubber tube that lead to his weapon's ink reserve.

Moon-Man watched Tome plant his roller on the ground as he took off one of the harnesses, tossing it to the Charger. Ross soon found herself back on her feet, slightly revitalized from the short break she had received.

"Blue One Lead, Blue Two Leader." Catherine said on their ear mics.

Moon-Man turned to see the battle changing in their favor steadily. Tome had done some serious damage she realized.

"Blue Two Lead, go." Moon-Man said, finishing the reloading process.

"They're a single push from defeat. Let's synchronize the attack." Catherine responded, quickly.

Moon-Man waited for everyone to finish reloading, before affirming Catherine's idea.

"We go on your mark Blue Two." Moon-Man said, waving for Ross and Joseph to get to her. Tome, with the privilege of being able to listen to what was on the radio, already stood ready.

After a short wait on the communicator, and walking to the edge of the blue turf, Moon-Man heard the words "Mark!" shout from both the ear piece as well as across the field of battle.

Moon-Man roared a battle cry as they charged, carving a path of the pink and firing at the few remaining Octarians. The last stand the tripod walkers was a defiant but futile one, and soon found themselves torn apart by the green and blue tide that hit them from each direction, including above from their rollers. Moon-Man wondered if Bojable had decided to join the fight.

He had not, she found out quite quickly. Moon-Man watched Catherine give back the borrowed Roller as the two squads reunited.

Moon-Man had added her own joyous 'Booyah' to the call that Pia had started as the combat had resolved itself. It was short lived however, as the two green Inklings came to meet them.

"What are you kids doing here?" One said. For some reason, Moon-Man felt she knew that voice, but couldn't place it. The two were obviously female Inklings, but their gear was much different from that a normal Inkling could purchase.

"Saving your back ends apparently." Moon-Man said, glancing at her squads that were reforming.

"Apparently. Like, identify yourselves." The one on the right said, fiddling with her own weapon. On closer inspection, Moon-Man saw a strange badge sewn into their battle gear. Squid Beak? Had Infy been serious when he had claimed the usage of the word Beak?

"Wait a minute. Kala? Tava?!" Chad said, fan-boying all over the place. "I'm a huge fan!"

"Ladies. How you doin'?" Joseph said, sensing a moment that should be taken at all cost and shouldering his charger.

"Uh. No we're not. Like, totally mistaken identity." The totally not Kala said. "You, like, need to leave here- pronto."

Suddenly, the older kids who were preparing to speak were interrupted by a call in their ears. Jones was flipping out.

"Moon-Man, Li is in danger! Her phone cut off! They're in building! Go! Go!" The jellyfish's desperate plea cried, along with many indescribable sounds.

Moon-Man, not even responding, started to move past the not-squid-sisters, but suddenly had weapons pointed at her.

"Hey, we said leave kid." The agent said, shooter nudging Moon-Man's chest.

Moon-Man felt undiluted rage, as it soon became a shouting match demanding the other two put their own weapons down, and she had unwittingly become a hostage in a standoff. Seven guns pointing at two, the green squids didn't seem to care that the odds were stacked against them.

"Moon-Man!" Jones screamed in her ear, forcing her into action.

Time seemed to slow down as she grabbed Tava's weapon, her own swinging to the side. She pulled the muzzle forward and down, bringing the unsuspecting Inkling much closer. It took only a moment before the agent was at Moon-Man's mercy of a head lock, as her arm wrapped around the smaller sister's neck. As Kala's weapon turned to fire, Moon-Man had already raised her .96 and fired multiple times, trading fire, but winning due to having the bigger gun.

"Stop! Stop!" Tava shouted, before Moon-Man threw her to the ground as well and firing several times, watching blue explode from the green tinted squid.

The expression from both squads told her enough, and was finally able to respond to their Jellyfish accomplice.

"Jones, where in the building is she?" Moon-Man said, pulling the duct tape roll from one of her coat pockets.

"Generator room, follow the uhm! Yellow line when you enter building. Will lead right to room. Be care filled! Much danger, much water." He informed.

Moon-Man waited briefly as the stunned Inkling reformed itself, and tried to get off the ground. Pouncing on the poor girl, Moon-Man wrapped the arms of the minor celebrity together with several layers of the silver tape.

She then repeated this process quickly, while being yelled at by the restrained girl. Trying to talk over the yelling to her squads seemed impossible, so a final strip silenced the sisters.

"NOW THEN." Moon-Man shouted without realizing, and corrected herself with a cough.

"Your music is over rated, and you both are chumps." Moon-Man said, taking a bow at the last insult to the Squid Beak Agents.

"Blue One, on me. Blue two shooter, roller, and stay here and watch them. Drag them in if some bad guys show up. Don't un-tape them either, lest they turn on you. Everyone else, let's go." Moon-Man said, quickly deciding to leave the weakest links here and keep watch on the two sisters. If anything, they'd have warning if the Octarians had called for backup. Moon-Man was also glad they were all wearing some form of face covering so the two sisters wouldn't be able to get a good look. Well, aside from her, Moon-Man realized in an afterthought as she entered the building.

Seeing as there was only one coat like this in the entirety of Inkopolis, it wouldn't take much detective work to discover her identity.

Moon-Man wondered if she just put herself on her own government's map, and laughed at the thought.

.

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Editor's Notes: It is recommended that you maintain parameters of refraining from spoilage. Fresh, if you will.


	21. A3: Part Six

_**Moon-Man Chronicle the Second: You get the idea.**_

 _ **Part Six: Vampyroteuthis Infernalis.**_

Moon-Man wondered if all these security check points were supposed to have a stationed guard, and if so, wondered where they could possibly be.

The building's entrance had led into a large, bright, white tiled room, In the middle of this grand entrance sat a circular table that was as tall as an Inkling, with similar televisions Moon-Man had been seeing a lot of lately.

When Moon-Man walked around the table to look into the screens, she noticed they showed black and white images of hallways and door ways. She asked Jones what she was looking at, then went through the arduous process of describing the scene when she had been told that he couldn't actually see from a radio.

Half watching Catherine follow the yellow line that started at the front desk and ran parallel to several other colors, also laminated onto the white flooring. Catherine had followed it until a door, which she couldn't get open no matter how hard she was trying to pry the metal.

Jones explained through the earpiece that they needed someone to stay behind and man the desk to press buttons. Tome had volunteered, due to his cowardice. With Jones explaining now to Tome how to operate the several buttons, a buzzer went off, letting the rest of the Blue teams deeper into the building.

This structure seemed much bigger on the inside she realized as the five squids made their way through the empty hallways, navigating by glancing at the ground every few seconds.

They passed several rooms with large computers built into the walls. Each one of these rooms had a glass window to peer into and was guarded by a similar metal door like in the guard room. They seemingly passed dozens of these isolated rooms, each one engulfed in darkness with tiny lights powering on and off in a seemingly random pattern.

They didn't have the time to investigate each room, and continued their singular path, having to turn down several forks due to following the golden line.

As they proceeded, they started to hear the methodical beat of machines working. The group started to see scores of pipes start to weave in and out of the walls they were surrounded by. With no way to discern the function of these sounds, they had no choice but to enter the final door.

The first thing they noticed was the smell of salt water. Then they saw large metal drums that were built into the floor, and raised out of the roof. The room itself was massive, each part artificially lit by lamps built into the ceiling. Metal floors and catwalks layered the outer wall, leading to the steel tanks. Moon-Man, following the sound of whirling machines, lightly grabbed the guard rail and looked down.

Metal turbines caballed to a legion of power transformers hummed with electricity. The metal tanks above seemingly pumped water throughout the turbines, creating the power that ran through the room. The transformers ran insulated wires up and out of the end of the room.

Incapable of understanding the precise workings and functions of each machine, Moon-Man started to look for anything living in the room. Jones had told them to enter this room, but they hadn't seen any… She halted, and followed a small bridge that had been out of sight.

At the end of the bridge stood a console, and behind the console were familiar figures, one of whom being the Jellyfish Li. The unmistakable red flesh and form of Infy standing beside the Jellyfish. Three Octarians that were similar to the twins stood beside him, weapons drawn onto the fearful Li who was fiddling with the machine in front of her.

Moon-Man had motioned for her squad to stop and take cover, as they had yet to be discovered. She gestured to the now silent inklings, and waved them closer as she stealthily made her way to the bridge. Catherine had signaled with hand motions that she would take Chad and Joseph to flank the other side, which Moon-Man nodded to as a good idea.

The suspended platform the five creatures were standing on was soon flanked, and Moon-Man could hear Infy shouting commands at the Jellyfish, shouting how close victory was at hand.

Moon-Man wondered what the master plan was as she waited for Catherine to signal that she was in position. Was he trying to make Inkopolis dark? Moon-Man had been told that this power station wouldn't even be able to take down a city block's lights, as other city power stations would take the burden of keeping the lights on. So what was he trying to accomplish?

"Set." Catherine's voice whispered.

"Mark in three. Two. One. Go!" Moon-Man said, charging the bridge and firing, doing squid jumps to cover ground faster, Ross not far behind. The octarians noticed the new sight from quite a distance, and started to fire on the choke, claiming the metal as their own turf.

What they hadn't noticed, was the other bridge having a similar Inkling copying her, crossing in a very short time. Infy, snarling at the new development, forced the hesitating Jellyfish out of the way, and pulling a lever, tried to do something.

This action had several consequences, she found as she felt the entire station vibrate violently, and the turbines start to increase their speed below her. She began to trade fire with the three Octarians, Ross adding her own fire to the fight. They each seemingly had similar ranges, so it suddenly became a duck and fire fight between the five of them.

"Moon-Man?" Infy shouted across the bridge, half laughing, half filled with undiluted rage. "You survived?!"

She didn't know how to respond under all these conditions, so decided against it. Catherine, Chad and Joseph were closing the distance between themselves and Infy, whose back was turned on them. All Moon-Man had to do was keep the Octarians busy, which seemed easy enough.

"I was under the impression you were dead! This has suddenly become much more interesting!" He joyously snarled as the turbines increased their rotations. Moon-Man could hear the transformers barely twelve feet under her start to strain with the new buildup of electricity.

"Yeah?"

"Yes! You get to see my final victory over your Squid overlords. Finally, my revenge is at hand!"

"Sorry! But no it's not!" Moon-Man shouted back, seeing her reinforcements begin to lay down fire.

One of the Octarians turned its back on Moon-Man, as if to intercept the three squids that were descending on their boss. Moon-Man, not letting it go without punishment, landed three consecutive blows onto the combatant, watching it explode in blue. The resulting explosion mired the other two in the choke point, making easy targets for even Ross despite their resistance.

Moon-Man was about to finish their own fight, when she saw a strange scene. Infy was grappling with Catherine, and over powering her instantly. The mutant squid moved strangely, with a grace she had never seen before. His fists landed on Catherine's face and body in quick succession, knocking her down onto the bridge. Joseph and Chad had then been forced to drop their chargers, but their awkward swings connected with air. By the time Moon-Man had cleaned up her own fight, Infy was weaving between the two inkling boys and beating them down with a mild bloodlust.

Infy was much smaller than both Joseph and Chad, but he wasn't even getting touched by the two. Catherine had gotten up and swung her own fist, but was caught by the forearm of Infy's own, then slammed in the chest with an open palm. Moon-Man's eyes widened at the sight of Catherine sliding on the ground, dangerously close to falling off the bridge entirely, into the moving turbines below.

Moon-Man leaped over the last of the purple ink, and had started firing at the weaponless not-squid. She was horrified by the sight of Infy's cone of flesh open wide, white bristles forming a huge net around him, absorbing the ink, but doing no damage. Infy had lifted Joseph by the throat and started the motion that would have thrown the Inkling boy into the machinery below.

Without much choice, Moon-Man abandoned her weapon, ripping the sling off of her coat and tackled the cone of flesh that guarded Infy's back. She felt her skin break as the boney bristles stabbed into her, but ignored the awkward pain, wrapping her arms around the much smaller body now in grasp. With no power behind his throw, Joseph had kicked himself out of the grip that would have ended his life.

Infy struggled in Moon-Man's overpowering grip, and she soon found it incredibly difficult to keep the body hold.

Moving her back onto the guard rail to support her, Moon-Man felt Infy's feet leave the ground. What happened next confused her greatly as she soon found herself flipping over the rail that had just been supporting her. Refusing to let go, Moon-Man dragging the smaller boy off the side with her, but losing her grip while mid-air.

She thought herself dead, when her back hit cement. She had landed in a small walkway between the transformer groups. The turbine was deafening, but she could hear it start to slow down. Water sprayed from the large engine, but the mist barely stung her skin.

Moon-Man got up and looked around, trying to locate where Infy had fallen. For a second, she had hopefully thought he had landed in the turbine itself, and been obliterated from this world. However, she soon saw the form of the almost squid, his fleshy cone tentacle net helping him up. Moon-Man wondered if Infy had bone in his body.

"You…" Infy gasped, gaining his footing. He tore at his shirt, as if it strangled him. Moon-Man had thought him weaker than an average Inkling, but now that she was able to see his bare skin, she realized that thick muscle had run all around his slim frame. He might be short and thin, but she had to overturn her first assumption. "Bitch."

Moon-Man was unfamiliar with the word.

"I've spent thirty years of my life, fighting for stupid inklings like you. Now, on the verge of changing it all, you interrupt me. Do you understand just how long this has taken to get just this far? Running from the hunting parties. Sneaking into the city. Building trust with the Octarians? Let alone getting the funds to hire them as mercenaries? Do you understand all you have jeopardized? This has taken me most of my adult life, and now some brat comes in and tries to ruin it. I've got news for you, Moon-Man. I've already won!" Infy shouted, in his tirade, getting louder as the turbines became quieter.

"We've stopped you, Infy. We've destroyed your army, if you could even call it that. Whatever you were doing here has been undone. All that's left is to capture you." Moon-Man called. "You're done attacking your own people."

He started walking towards her. Moon-Man had felt newly resurfaced rage come from him.

"My own people?" Infy asked.

"You might be a mutant, but you're still a squid."

"No." Infy said, his web of tentacles and flesh flexing around him.

"What?" Moon-Man asked.

"You're a mutant. I'm not any part squid except for the look. While you are squid but have varying traits from your kin. I'm Vampyrotheuthis Infernalis, while you're one of the three hundred some odd sub-species of the Teuthida order. Not like it matters." Infy said, suddenly charging towards Moon-Man.

She blocked his fists with her forearms, each of his swings leaving a sting as it dug into her flesh. Moon-Man continued to defend against his quick strikes, back off whenever he'd go for a kick.

"But you would know this, if your government wasn't so focused on making conscript soldiers out of you, and actually expanding education towards you stupid squid children! I was so happy when Marauder showed up. He actually listened to me like I was a teacher!"

"You're a bad teacher!" Moon-Man shouted, finally able to get a hit in. Her swift strike had landed on his neck, silencing him, and forcing him back. Moon-Man took the new found pace of the fight and landed several blows onto her enemy.

"Marauder killed two Inklings in cold blood, with no way to defend themselves. You gave him a water gun. You claim to care for us, then purposefully endanger and inadvertently kill us? You're a hypocrite! I beat him into the dirt, and now I'm going to do the same to you!" Moon-Man shouted, her rage fueled strikes landing on his taught flesh. However, when she went for a kick, Infy and caught it as if he had been waiting, and twisted, throwing her onto her back. She slid several inches, finding her face dangerously close to the live transformers.

"You're going to find I'm more learned than that child, I'm afraid." Infy said, waiting for Moon-Man to get up.

The turbines were almost slowed to a stop, she realized standing. Glancing up, Moon-Man could see the recovered Inklings, watching her fight with the Octarian boss. Moon-Man looked back to Infy, and slowly took off her coat, the leather companion softly dropping onto the walk way. She found her plastic ink bottle rig completely smashed, blue oozing onto the ground. Infy gestured that he could wait, as Moon-Man hurriedly took off the restricting item.

The plastic clattered much harder onto the cement, and bounced lightly. Moon-Man finally unbuckled the sling that served as a belt, tearing the throat mic and ear piece out. Finally fully free to throw down, Moon-Man hopped once, signaling she was ready for the final fight between herself and the Vampire Squid.

They met each other on the path, each block and hit matched. Without her coat or harnesses restricting her, she found herself able to match Infy's own speed. In fact, she felt through the flow of the fight that she was probably physically stronger than him, but he had much more experience and technique over her. The physical exchange lasted several minutes without any clear sign of a victor. Whenever she felt she had gained the upper hand, Infy had used some weird martial move that snuck its way through Moon-Man's guard. Soon they were both gasping for air, with bodies straining against each other in the power struggle.

"This… Is so stupid." Infy gasped, breaking the violent silence they had going on.

"How… So?" Moon-Man asked, hands entwined, pulling and being pulled in a flesh tug of war.

"I'm fifteen years older than you, and by sheer genetics, you are this strong. This entire situation is stupid. I've worked so hard to get here and some child is matching me." Infy complained.

"You aren't the only one who's had a hard life."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. But I'm not going to let my past stop me from what I want to do."

"And what's that?"

"Beating you into submission." Moon-Man said, breaking off the arm wrestle, and doing a full turn, bringing her heel into the side of Infy's face. She felt a satisfying crack as he took the blow fully, hitting the concrete, and coming face to face with the electric powered transformer.

Moon-Man would have pounced and mounted him, had he not done a sick jump, getting onto his feet with one twisting motion of his entire body. Moon-Man had actually been really impressed when his elbow slapped her face. She stumbled backwards, almost losing her balance and falling into the certain death of the electricity conduits.

He grabbed her by the shirt, and swung his fist several times into her nose. Moon-Man couldn't help but drop to a knee, reeling from the strikes. Her entire head swam, and she got ready to defend herself for the follow up, but found it missing.

Infy had backed off.

Moon-Man blinked several times, wondering what he was doing.

"Wuh…" Moon-Man slurred, instead of saying 'What'.

"Moon-Man. I won't regret anything I've done, even taking those deaths on my conscience. I also know there will be many more in the days to come. But their sacrifice will be a catalyst that will bring change to this world. Like I said, I've already won. Do yourself a favor and get out of the city while you can." The Vampire squid said, holding his arm in pain.

Moon-Man was confused. Then she saw the shadow that towered over her out of her periphery. She had locked eyes with Infy, who had said nothing. Moon-Man then felt what he was going to do.

"No!" Moon-Man shouted, taking a step, but being unable to do anything. She watched Infy jump head long into the moving turbine, and the volatile substance it churned. Moon-Man closed her eyes and sank fully to the ground, hearing the death cry her enemy had screamed as he sunk to his demise.

Moon-Man waited until the echo had died down, and only the hum of electricity and scraping metal filled the room. Then she cracked her eyes open, and saw the shadow had stayed perfectly stationary, waiting.

Moon-Man rose and turned, facing the monstrosity. The elongated head tilted at her action, but the terror she had felt the first time seeing it a month ago had long left. The abomination being illuminated fully now, she could see its pure obsidian flesh haunted by specks of white. The combat rig had four Ink canisters strapped to its chest, not unlike Moon-Man's own she had duct taped together. The B.E.A.K. Badge shined brighter, reflecting light on the white thread.

The colossal tentacles moved slowly around itself, seemingly unsure of what action to do. Moon-Man stared into the large eyes that were set in the elongated head, which drooped slightly backwards. The more she looked at the monster that stood in front of her, the more she thought it was goofy looking.

The eldritch abomination, doing nothing but observing her, didn't seem to mean her any harm. Moon-Man, uncaring if it did mean her harm, brushed passed the monster's slow feeler. Without even turning to see if it reacted, she put on the returning warmth and weight of her father's gift, and grabbed the end of her Ink rig. Hefting it over her shoulder, she picked up the radio contraption with her spare arm and walked a little bit further before searching for any obvious way up or out of the transformer farm.

Glancing at the giant squid to see its stationary form, she noted that the two large arms had drifted lightly in a direction that she could have walked towards. Understanding the slight gesture, if it was one, she followed the walkway.

Moon-Man soon found herself in front of a bashed open metal gate, which would have normally stopped anyone unauthorized from entering this restricted area. Stepping over the crushed ruin that use to exist as the gate, Moon-Man found her way up to the second floor, and at the silent faces of Blue One and Blue Two, with the inclusion of the jellyfish Li.

Without turning to see if she would be followed, Moon-Man took the few steps necessary to reach the doors they had entered from, and aggressively pushed the door open. She slowly walked with purpose following the golden line back to the front gate.

Ross had caught up to her, and slipped the handle of the .96 grip into her hand. She grasped it firmly, but didn't register the action.

When they reached the entrance, Bojable, Pia, and Tome were waiting, with a freed squid sisters staring her down.

Moon-Man waved at them with her gun to rejoin formation, and walked passed the non-factors.

They exited the complex, and walked through the purple and blue mess they had created on their way in.

The cool night sea breeze hit her face gently, as she began the walk home. Uncaring of the many eyes that watched their moves from the shadows.

.

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Editor's Notes: I always considered Infy the type to shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane. Guess we all make mistakes. Loose ends make split hairs.


	22. A3: Finale

_**Moon-Man Chronicles Two: Electric Boogaloo.**_

 _ **Part Final: Horizons.**_

It had been barely two weeks since Ross had left her parent's home and moved to this city.

In that time, she felt she had accomplished much. Ross had made so many valuable friends, and even some rivals. The night they had returned to their apartment, she had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, still thinking of the slow walk home, where they had exhaustedly made small talk.

When Ross had woke and glanced to her window, she realized it was the break of dawn. She browsed at the gear and supplies that were scattered around her floor, and smiled. Ross changed her clothes from the dark colors she had been wearing, and went outside of her room. The scene was rather silly looking, she thought as she stifled a laugh. Tome was passed out on their table, legs dangling off as Bojable and Catherine were spread out across the floor. Blankets were draped over the sleeping Inklings, and Pia waved lightly to her from the kitchen.

They chatted briefly about things not related to the squids in her living room in whispered conversation. When Pia had left after a 'good morning', Ross decided to go look out to the sea, or go to some early morning pastry shop.

Sneaking out of the apartment building, Ross stopped to stare at the ocean, its dark shifting waters a stark contrast to the brightening sky. Thin white clouds drifted slowly across the horizon, and Ross was lost in thought briefly at the scenery.

She turned to walk towards the train station, then stopped, seeing a familiar figure on the beach.

Still dressed from last night, stood a barefooted Moon-Man on the shore, dangerously close to the tide that receded along the wet sandy banks. Ross watched the girl stand silently, then tried to find the way down to join her.

A small metal ladder lead down the large cement wall that halted any ocean water into the city. Climbing down, she found herself landing on Moon-Man's shoes and Ink Canisters. Stepping over Moon-Man's abandoned gear, she followed the sandy foot prints to the stationary Inkling.

"Good morning." Ross heard Moon-Man say as she decreased the distance between the two.

"Good morning." Moon-Man heard Ross return, coming to a halt beside her.

They stood silently for a long time, Ross waiting for Moon-Man to speak, lest she herself ruin the moment. Ross thought of how weird their relationship had started, and had come to this point. She wondered if Catherine or Bojable had to jump through similar hoops. Moon-Man eventually spoke, interrupting Ross's delusions.

"What are you doing out here?" Moon-Man asked.

"I was going to go get some food. What about you?" Ross said without much thought.

Ross watched Moon-Man's face contort slightly. The response seemingly taking much inner dialogue.

Moon-Man eventually sighed.

"I keep thinking about what could have been."

Ross's smile slowly turned into a frown, her silence speaking for her.

"How many different paths that could've been walked down, for some better outcome. I keep going through these past weeks as to what I could have done differently. It is… Infuriating, to say the least." Moon-Man turned to her, her face a mixture of emotions.

Ross wondered what could be said to alleviate the Inkling's pain. Then spoke without much thought, feeling the words come out as if they had a mind of their own.

"That's stupid." Ross found herself saying, horrified.

However, Moon-Man had laughed for a very long time. Ross stayed deathly quiet as she listened to the girl's rough chortles across the sea's surface. It was horribly awkward for her, as Moon-Man had stopped briefly, but looking at Ross had sent her into a fresh wave of laughter.

"What?" Ross had asked, before Moon-Man's laughter had interrupted her once more.

"It's just…" Moon-Man started coughing, choking on the air that filled her lungs. "I've been out here all night thinking about life and death, and some kid comes out here and calls me stupid. It's just… great."

Without further levity, Moon-Man patted Ross on the back, and motioned her to follow.

Ross walked back to the ladder with the older girl, and climbed after her. She couldn't help but notice Moon-Man leaving her weapon and other gear, save for her shoes. Instead of going back to the apartment, like she had thought Moon-Man would go, she led Ross to the train stop.

Moon-Man had told her about Marauder, in depth. How over a month ago she had watched an Inkling die, and had almost died herself. As Moon-Man led them off the train, the story continued, of how she had met a monster after an ink strike, and a beat down.

"It was after, when I found out about a service done for the two victims. I was told many kids attended, just to see what it was. Turns out the squid sisters and some adult had shown up, to ask the kids to stand in silence at their memory. But, as they were both new, no one had been able to say much about them." Moon-Man told, in front of the gates to the park where they had encountered Chuck.

"Mouse, a boy who had been in the city for a week, had told Bojable of how he wanted to fiddle with electronics, like the cell phones we use. His roommate had told an anecdote on how he had tried to fix a competitor's phone during a turf battle, confusing everyone. It was sweet, Bojable told me." Moon-Man said as she brought Ross to a stop in front of a small wooden structure that led away from the park's cement pathway.

"The girl, who, as I told you, died in front of me, had arrived that day. She had arrived late, and was looking for her apartment, to get ready for the next day of Ink battles. The girl turned down the wrong path, and into Marauder. She died before I could do anything. I didn't want to come here, Ross, but I learned something last night."

"What?" Ross found herself asking. The bare eyes of Moon-Man dug into her, searching for something on Ross's face.

"Pia, had mentioned off handedly… That you had a sister." Moon-Man whispered, pulling Ross closer and closer to the gazebo. Ross could see two pictures sitting on large wooden tripods.

"So?" Ross said, forcing her brain not to make the connection.

"I was told she arrived a little over a month ago, so on the off chance, I had asked Bojable what this girl's name was." Moon-Man said, her eyes softening as they met with hers.

"No. No, no, please no." Ross said, tears forming in her eyes. Ross began trying to resist the tugging Moon-Man, but found her wrists seemingly locked in an iron grip.

"Ross, I'm… I'm so sorry."

Ross, now in the wooden structure, found herself staring at the portrait of her sister. The smiling face of the younger inkling lifelessly looking at her. Ross was freed from Moon-Man's grasp, and collapsed to her knees and wept. Sadness enveloped her and continued to sap her strength.

Moon-Man stayed, and watched over her continue to weep and moan. Ross tried to calm herself, but every time she had come close, she had looked at the painting, and had been over taken by a fresh wave of tears, and emotions.

Ross had gripped at Moon-Man, pulling herself up. Feeling rage for the very first time, Ross had asked Moon-Man why.

"Why?! Why did you let her die?"

"I'm sorry." Moon-Man had said.

Ross's hands grabbed the taller girl's shoulders, letting Ross stand fully.

"You could have done something! I know you could have! Couldn't you have done something? Anything?!" Ross screamed, at her hero. The girl who she saved, and was saved by.

"I'm sorry Ross." Moon-Man told her.

Ross felt her fingers wrap around Moon-Man's neck.

"Sorry? You're sorry?! Why didn't you save her?! Why didn't you do anything to help her?! Bring her back Moon-Man! It's your fault! Bring her back!" Ross screamed, her hands wringing the soft flesh that was Moon-Man's throat. Moon-Man wasn't even resisting as they fell to the wooden deck, Ross choking the life out of her hero. When she looked up from the fallen girl, and met with the fake eyes of her sister, grief over took once more, and felt all strength sap from her hands.

Moon-Man coughed weakly, arms spread on the floor as Ross's head fell into the older girl's chest. She gripped at Moon-Man's shirt, blue tinted tears staining the black cloth. All Moon-Man had said was how sorry she was, over and over again.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

 _"I'm sorry."_

Ross so disgusted was she, put a hand over the mouth of the newly silenced girl with eyes of utter contempt, sorrow, and futility.

"I hate you."

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.

FIN

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Editor's Notes: Pfew, that's all for this one folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Its been a strange and hilarious road for us, and we wish only the strangest for you all. We had a ton of fun with this, so we got what we came here to get. Hope you did too. 


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